Manager


Manager - NA4M
Manager Notes
Reviews Home

Reviews For: Ham Stick by Lakeview Co.

Category: Antennas: HF Mobile & Accessories

eMail Subscription

Registered users are allowed to subscribe to specific review topics and receive eMail notifications when new reviews are posted.
Review Summary For : Ham Stick by Lakeview Co.
Reviews: 108MSRP: 24.95
Description:
Big performance, small package
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.hamstick.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
34.31084.5
N4MJG Rating: 2023-05-27
great antenna since 2005 Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Updated may 2023

I brought this this antenna many year ago 2005 when I upgrade to from no code to general license back 2005 I have decide to but 60 and 40 meters when I tune I had great sweet 1.1 to 13 but bad!

I still have my the antenna now I use as of dipole on back of my truck then I use it at park really does get made a lots of contacts on both attend !
K7STU Rating: 2023-05-26
Lakeview Hamsticks Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Lakeview Hamsticks were good mono band antennas. 10 thru 20 worked great. Below that not so much. Too bad they have been out of business for nearly 10 years.
KF6IIU Rating: 2023-05-25
All antennas are a compromise Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had Hamsticks for 10/12/15/17/40 and even 75 for several years. Compared to the competition, the Hamsticks are lighter, have fatter setscrews, and have components that won't rust. Thanks to its light weight and narrow profile you may be able to get away with a trunk lip or even a mag mount.

But all mobile HF antennas are a compromise. Below 20m, a Hamstick is unlikely to tune up "out of the box", you will have to fiddle with some matching, and placement is critical. Obviously you will have to swap antennas, retune to go to the other end of a band, and spend nearly as much as a (cheap) screwdriver to buy a bundle of sticks for all bands. The 40m stick work surprisingly well with a base shunt matching coil. The 75m stock is just a lump.

Besides homebrewing something exactly to your specs, the Hamstick is a good choice if none of the above compromises bothers you.
W4HWD Rating: 2020-10-16
They'll get you heard Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I used Hamsticks exclusively back in the mid-to-late 90s and early 2000s when I had no way to set up a permanent station. They worked very well, mounted on the roof of the van I had back then using a 3-magnet mount.

Driving the sticks back then with an Alinco DX-70TH/EDX-2 tuner, I worked a lot of DX with only 100w, plus I was a regular on a couple 75m nets. In fact, the first time I ever worked JT was with a 20m hamstick and my Alinco on CW from a parking lot at Offutt AFB! Good times - but admittedly, the bands were in way better shape back then compared to now.

The only problem I had was with the 75m hamstick - the fine enameled wire in the coil went open, probably due to flexing. For $20 I replaced it. The hamsticks for the higher bands never suffered the same fate - and I had them all, up to and including 10m.

Now, 23 years later, I'm getting back into mobile HF. I'm not spending thousands on a big screwdriver setup because I still work for a living and don't spend a lot of time mobile, except 20 minutes to and from work plus the occasional vacation trip out of state. So, I bought the MFJ versions for 75, 40, 20 and 17m. I have a better mount now too - a stake pocket mount by Breedlove (reviewed on here as well). I tuned the 20m stick yesterday and was able to hear myself in a web receiver in California, 2200 miles away - not bad for a hamstick and 10w from an Elecraft KX2. It's fun.
W4KVW Rating: 2013-11-30
Worked Great! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I had a set of 10,12,15,17,20,40,& 75 meter ham Sticks & never had an issue with them.They all worked great & were much better in performance than the Yaesu ATAS-120A that I also owned.Shame they went out of business.Only problem was having a way to carry the extra antennas when not in use but they did their job when installed & two of them combined for the same band makes a great rotatable dipole as well. {:>)

Clayton
W4KVW
KD5OM Rating: 2013-11-30
Required Surgery Time Owned: more than 12 months.
These are good for the money you spend on them. You can't beat that. However, my 20 meter antenna just went bad. I noticed the shaft of the antenna turning on the bottom threaded metal part where apparently it was glued has come apart and the wire broke from the bottom threaded part. I got my pocket knife out and removed a little of the heat shrink and then I had to solder a fresh piece of wire back to the threaded part to the wire inside the antenna. A small dab of JB Weld to glue it back together. Slipped a fresh piece of heat shrink over the repair and we're back on the air. Any Ham could make this repair it's just that I shouldn't have to.
NJ6K Rating: 2013-03-30
Junk Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I used them mobile on 20,40. 80 m Hf the bases become loose and wont tune . save your money and buy a better antenna
N4YX Rating: 2012-11-05
Have Used 'Em for EONs Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I finally wore out the original 40m hamstick I bought years ago at Dayton from the man [BUM] himself. Have used the "sticks" all bands CW/m & SSB/m for many years. If needed can be matched to SWR unity at the antenna with alligator clipped matching capacitor. Bottom Line: Lakeview is excellent!
N4GRF Rating: 2012-09-29
Probably Doing It Wrong Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought a couple of Ham-Sticks (20,17,10). After all, they are inexpensive. First, I installed the 20M on my balcony rail. Ran two radials down the rail perpendicular to the antenna. Antenna analyzer placed resonance at 13+ MHZ. Could raise the resonant frequency much above 14 by adjusting the stinger. Thought about physically shortening, but tried another installation on the back of my SUV. Good ground connection into the frame of this 6,000 lb beast. Better, but still no resonance in 20M band. Ok, what am I doing wrong?

Tom N4GRF
W3SQE Rating: 2011-11-22
No problems here Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought a 10,20 and 40M stick with the four magnet 376 mount for the roof of my Honda Element. I quickly tuned the 10M stick and got Costa Rica, North Dakota and Texas from WV w/ my Icom 735. The 20M stick also tuned easily and I have usable SWR (<1.4:1) across all of both 10/20. I bought the inducta-match to help the 40M stick and get the SWR flat but the bandwidth is smaller and you need to reset the stinger length for the lower or higher side of that band. I just set mine for 7.2 and its fine all over the band although the SWR can get high on say 7.260 but my radio has no problem with it. I rated these 5/5 because even though there are better antennas out there they cost a lot more and present tougher installation scenarios than the hamsticks on my Element. Hamsticks can't be beat for the $$ and unlike some others I had very good customer service encounters.