Manager


Manager - NA4M
Manager Notes
Reviews Home

Reviews For: AWK Cobweb 6-20

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

eMail Subscription

Registered users are allowed to subscribe to specific review topics and receive eMail notifications when new reviews are posted.
Review Summary For : AWK Cobweb 6-20
Reviews: 1MSRP: $250 USD
Description:
The AWK Cobweb 6-20 is a Polish-built antenna offered globally for resonant performance on 6 meters, 10 meters, 12 meters, 15 meters, 17 meters, and 20 meters. It offers exceptional performance across these bands with average SWR ratings of 1.2 to 1.6 across these operating frequencies. It is a style of antenna originally developed by Steve Webb of England (G3PTW) based on the concept of a folded dipole. It is essentially six dipoles folded into a square with a small footprint (about 7 ft in diameter, and apps 7-8 lbs in weight.) It can be easily taken off a mast and folded up for a closet or the boot of a car, making the Cobweb 6-20 an easy choice for field day or a POTA activation where you are carrying some gear in by car (not small enough for a backpacker). The Polish version of the design folds quite easily, like an umbrella. It is built from heavy duty aluminum center piece with u-Bolts, and fiberglass covered wood dowels for the stretcher bars. It's an easy assembly, taking one person 2-3 hours.
Product is in production
More Info: https://www.awk-antennas.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
1515
W7DGJ Rating: 2023-04-05
Very pleased so far with performance and quality Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased a "Polish Cobweb" from Pawel at AWK Antennas, through his eBay connection. At the time I ordered, he did not have the one I wanted in stock and he had to fabricate one, but I still received it in about 2.5-3 weeks. It arrived in a reasonable size box, as everything collapses and the model Cobweb 6-20 is still rather compact. It offers performance and reasonable SWRs on all my operating positions (I work SSB primarily) on 6, 10, 12, 15, 17 and 20 meters. He sells larger cobwebs as well, but I think they start to get ungainly at 40M. (I can tune this to 1.3 on 40M with my MercuryAT but am likely losing half my RF in the feedline and balun).The construction was rather simple, but mistakes can be made, because the instructions that Pawel provides are simplistic and not detailed enough. Take note of how the yellow fiberglass coated rods assemble, because that's the part I got hung up on. Once you have them inserted in the right position, everything is labeled for frequency and you just string the (high-quality) wire and screw down wire holders onto the rods. Pawel has pre-tuned them for center band but clipping is easy for minor trims. It's cool because the stretcher bars can be lifted up and folded just like an umbrella, so you can stick it in the car trunk and take it to field day. Too big for a SOTA activation however! But for POTA or field days, great antenna. It doesn't require a lot of height . . . last night I got Finland from Arizona, Russia, and Australia/New Zealand and an island state called Nieu. Working a lot of 10 when it's hot, and 15/20M regularly now. Going to put it up on a mast on the chimney. Shows some minor predilection for the northeast in the present mount I am using, but it's only 8 ft. off the ground. Once I move it to the roof, I don't think I'll need a rotator, but if I do, an inexpensive one should do it as it is only 7 or 8 pounds in weight total. So, long and short is that I like the antenna, the guy who builds them is nice and responsive (Pawel) and it's reasonable in price (under $300). My only concern is that if he gets overloaded by orders, but he's reliable so that will likely only mean some shipping delays.