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Reviews For: Tarheel Antennas

Category: Antennas: HF Mobile & Accessories

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Review Summary For : Tarheel Antennas
Reviews: 205MSRP: 295.00
Description:
Screwdriver Antennas,Stainless Steel mounts,Mobile and Base
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.tarheelantennas.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
152054.8
KB1GHH Rating: 2006-12-04
model #200 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought this screwdriver used from a friend. I mounted it on the back of my NISSAN MAXIMA/trailer hitch mount. I used the turbo-tuner and the DXE Cap.Hat. TOTAL height......about 9.5ft.!! It does 80m quite well.I also have a smaller whip for the "other-end". It's "QUIET" and runs slow(it's geared that way!)BUT it is "set N'forget". Tune the freq.,and wait 'til finished....NOW...just "PTT".
SLICK.....;-) Real happy with the Tarheel. Very heavy duty-made. Saw other screwdrivers;a lot are kinda "flim-zee".Get something that will LAST!! Winters near now..lookin'good though.
K5SF Rating: 2006-12-01
Reliable Performance Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Have the Tarheel 200 mounted to a trailer hitch mount on a Ford Taurus, looks like a little remote control car with the 6 foot whip on top :) Mosly used on 20,30,and 40 meters. It works like a much larger antenna. I have a 500 watt amp on it, but usually only 100 watts is needed for a successfull QSO. It gets out really well, must have a decent radiation efficiency to do so. Even did well on the few times I got on 80 and 160. On top of this kind of performance, this unit is very reliable for me. Everytime I want to move it, it moves, the protective cover is great to prevent dirt, water or ice from getting into the mechanizm. A real solid unit, built tough and heavy. Running for over two years now, and still does exactly what I bought it for. What better can you ask for.
K4CMC Rating: 2006-11-22
Excellent Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I certainly agree with those who commented on the great service of this company. I had an unfortunate experience with one of the other major screwdriver manufacturers where they failed to provide any support & failed to return my full puchase price when I returned their "so-called guaranteed antenna". I heard from a vendor at the Orlando hamfest who will no longer carry their products because of this type of poor service. The tech for Tarheel spent almost an hour on the phone helping me work out some problems and my installation is now working great. Thanks for the wonderful and competent advice.
AB0O Rating: 2006-11-19
Programmable Controller and LTH2 Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
The RF performance of this antenna (Little Tarheel 2) continues to impress me. I have checked to a few Canadian 80 meter nets with good signals as well as 40 meter nets stateside. SWR is less than 1.3 at tuned frequency.
Since my last review, I did purchase the Progammable Controller that has 10 programmable positions. The idea is that previously-tuned and stored antenna positions can be quickly accessed simply by pressing one of the buttons.

Pros: Works well and is reliable. The "Up and Down" buttons for fine tuning are much superior in feel to the standard control box supplied with the antenna. The LED display is easily visible in full daylight. The unit works and is reliably built.

Cons: Unfortunately, what I didn't realize when I bought the unit was that it was not designed to work with the Little Tarheel 2 antenna (this was not mentioned in the ads, but the folks at Tarheel were very apologetic and offered to give me a full credit trade for the automatic tuner unit)As I understand it, the Little Tarheel does not have as many encoding magnets in the drive as the bigger antenas, so while the controller "counts" pulses as it sends the antenna towards a given position, it sees only a fraction as many pulses as it would need to put the antenna back to the EXACT position it was programmed to seek. The only time that it will successfully return to an exact pre-programmed position is if the exact low-SWR spot coincidentally corresponds to the spot where the controller sees the pulse count it is looking for, and then only if the antenna was re-initialized to zero (full down) prior to the request.

In the end, I did not elect to go for the automatic tuner trade-in given the extra cost involved, but I found that the Programmable Controller is very useful to put the antenna close to the operating frequency prior to fine-tuning. This is a time-saver and a safety feature, especially when going from 6 meters to 40 or from 20 meters to 80 meters. Holding the "Up" button for 30-60 seconds while driving along the turnpike and listening for the increase hiss of a match over the road noise is difficult. The PC Unit does this for you and then all you need to do is tweak the antenna briefly for the exact match. The antenna is always within "1 or 2 seconds" of the exact match spot in terms of how long you have to press the up or down button to minimize SWR.
The PC unit is a keeper, and my experience with customer service from Tarheel was great.
W0HFG Rating: 2006-10-15
Great little antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This is my second Tarheel. Traded my Suburban for a Toyota Highlander and the Tarheel 300 was going to look too big on it so got a "Stubby 75" and mounted it on the Toyota. Looks great and performs the same. Will know more after Thanksgiving trip to Arkansas. Installation went well and no RFI problems with any of the electronic computers on the Toyota. If anyone would like pics, just drop me an email.
w0hfg@st-tel.net Jim / W0HFG
JBENNETT_EX_W4ZJ Rating: 2006-08-26
Model 400 Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Using the Model 400 with the turbo tuner and an ICOM 706 on a Jeep Grand Cherokee.Using the lay back trailer hitch mount. What a powerful combination!
Quality and performance that is un beleivable!
W4ZJ
KA4AXS Rating: 2006-07-27
Little Tarheel below average performance Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The Tarheel Antenna folks are outstanding and their customer service is a benchmark for others to follow. I bought the Little Tarheel II to replace my hamsticks. My wife liked the way the Tarheel looked so I figured this was the best way to go. With hamsticks I worked the world with 100 watts. Between Jan and Mar of 2006, I worked over 100 countries plus Peter One on 3 bands with the basic $19.95 hamsticks. The Little Tarheel has not lived up to the performance of the basic hamstick. After about 10 calls in a pileup, I give up and put the hamstick on, then I get through with one or two calls. The difference in receive compared to the hamstick is 2-3 db lower on the S meter. I bought the longer whip and still not able to DX. I think the Little Tarheel is a good overall antenna for state side work only plus it looks great on my SUV and is easy to install using a K400 mount. I would not buy it if you like to DX. I've heard the 200 model is good for DXing. I'm going to try and save up for one. If anyone is interested in a Little Tarheel, I've got one for sale. It has less than 100 QSOs in a 2 month period. Look me up on QRZ. 73, Ned N4LS
N5EAT Rating: 2006-07-17
Really works well Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had my Little Tarheel 2 for over a year. I just took my Tarheel and FT-857 on a week long drive thru New Mexico and Colorado from Alabama.
I mounted the antenna on the roof of my wife's Mustang with a tri-mag mount. The antenna worked flawlessly. This same setup faced 110+ mph winds last year in Katrina (including all the flying debris) without budging.

One of the nice things about this antenna is that it does not seem to pick up a lot of excessive noise from other cars and trucks. It hears extremely well. I tune mine with my ears. When I find the "high hash' point, my swr is usually less than 2:1. One problem I had was when I forgot to turn the DSP noise reduction off when I was tuning. It completely removes the noise spike when this antenna hits it's sweet spot (kind of funny when I think of the 5 minutes I kept moving the coil up and down and not hearing a change in the receive...).

I don't know how to compare this to larger antennas. I do know that it seems to radiate an adequate signal. Everytime I called a ham working a county - I got him. I worked every ham I wanted to work on some contest while in a huge canyon in Colorado surrounded by thousands of feet of mountains on all sides.

This antenna is super light and really easy to install with a mag mount. I've never had a bad result using one of these mounts. Others will tell you that it's questionable, but i've not had any problems.

Whichever Tarheel antenna you buy - I think you'll really enjoy it.
KA5BQM Rating: 2006-07-17
Great Purchase Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I own the 400 and the little Tarhill. Mounted the 400 on a full-size pickup and the Little Tarhill on my wife's Chrysler 300 (trunk-lip). This company ships their products fast. I lowered the garage door on my 400 and busted the 3/8 x 24 stud. A replacement was received within a week with no questions asked. I would also like to point out that they provide as much information on mounting as they do their antennas. (Check out the web-site). I chose them in the first place because of the information provided on various mounting techniques. A bug catcher performed better for me but I got tired of stopping to change coil positions at each band change. If I hear DX with the Tarhill, I work it. Both antennas work as advertisedand I like doing business with a company that takes care of its customers. I have not been disappointed
W4JBR Rating: 2006-07-14
SUPERB!!! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have tried "Em all....Hamsticks, Yaesu ATAS, BrandX,Y & Z of Screwdrivers. The Tarheel is absolutely the best of the group "Hands Down". I commute 3 hours/day and use it without problems, get consistant "Solid" reports with 100 watts from a very old and battered Kenwood TS-130S. If you are considering mobile operation you will not be sorry with any of the Tarheel products. Service is First Rate...Warranty is Excellent and...Cindy and Robert are a "Class Act".