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Reviews For: Force 12 EF Monobanders

Category: Antennas: HF: Yagi, Quad, Rotary dipole, LPDA

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Review Summary For : Force 12 EF Monobanders
Reviews: 13MSRP:
Description:
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.force12inc.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00135
KX2T Rating: 2012-12-13
EF340 Magnum Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Back in the late 90ies I had this light 3 element 40ty up at 72', the 1st one I had got was destroyed when I lost a 70' tower in a micro burst in 97 but ordered another one once the new tower was in place. Over the few years F12 improved the design, extra HD element to boom brackets, heavy LL strut masts and fiberglass spreaders plus a real heavy boom to mast bracket which was upgraded to 3/8" over 1/4" per plate and longer. All I can say is that beam for a shorty 40ty worked, I was less than an s unite down from W2HCW's 3 element full size forty on the LP and in contests it would spank a local contesters 4 element KLM. The FB was around 20 db and about 25db FS plus the bandwidth was just over 250Khz under 2:1. I had up a CC 240 before the F12 and it worked ok but the EF340 was awsome. If you can find one of these used buy it, make sure it has the HD hardware and its the Magnum series cause they 1st came out with the EF340 then the newer design changed to the Magnum model. The newer F12 antennas for forty are done differently, the LL is further out but the antennas is very heavy were the Magnum EF340 was 70 pounds wet and much less windload on the tower. I am no longer at that qth but wish I had that beam on forty today with the new band plan.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by KX2T on 2011-12-21

Back in 97 I talked with Tom N6BT from F12 about upgrading my pair of EF415's to a 5 elements but thought that a 24' boom was a little light for 5. Had done some basic designs on 5 on 30' booms and e mailed this to Tom. He did his computer tweeking on the design and within 2 weeks sent me out new manuals and parts to up grade my EF415's to a newer design which he called the 515X's. Man these antennas were sweet, much better than the HyGain 5 element beams I have used in the past, FB was over 25db almost across the whole band, swr was 1.3 to one at band edges and I was able to stack the two at 74 and 35 feet. All I can say is they played very well, did there lions share of q's in 98 and 99 CQWW when we ran the call W2A and as far as breaking pile ups, I just never had to waite, 1st call every time even when all the big boys were in the mix, best pileup was in 99 CQWW phone with 10 min to the close of the contest and needed VK9NS for that rare mult at the end, everyone was in that pileup, I mean every one so I called and good ole Jim Smith came back and said W2A only please, it doesn't get any better than that to know your station and antennas are worked right were they should. I have since sold these antennas to Mike N2TX who had them up at his qth for a while and placed huge scores on 15mtrs single band but he had them at 90 & 50', if only we had a larger tower at the old qth. I have since retired from contesting and dont have the stacks I had back in the late 90's but man the F12 antennas we used on a 1/3 acre plot in the burbs of Long Island on two crank up towers were the smoking guns to some great contest fun and put some nice WOOD on the wall for M/S CQWW Phone weekend. If I ever do it again that would be my first call to order these antennas again, there that good.
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Earlier 4-star review posted by KX2T on 2002-02-15

I have owned for the past 8 years many of the F12 monoband beams, stacked EF420's,EF415's,Magnum 810,EF340. The 15 and 10 meter yagi's are just about built right with decent constuction. The 40 and 20 meter models are built a little on the light side and after there up for a few years(lets say 3) the pop rivits start to work there way out and its like you must pull a periodic check on there beams or do a rebuild every 3 years. They perform very well but the built quality could be better than what I have seen.
NN2X Rating: 2011-04-27
EF 410 GREAT ANTENNA Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
4 Element Mono Band 10 meters, Works great, had awesome reports world wide, only a 12ft boom....Very easy to assemble, (Even I can put it together!)

Very wide bandwidth, covers the 10 meter band, with low VSWR..

See you on the air
WX3B Rating: 2011-03-28
EF-615 Review Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just placed a brand new Force 12 EF-615 into service in time to catch the sunspots in the WPX SSB contest.

Assembly was easy, installation was flawless, and the antenna performance is excellent from both a gain and pattern perspective.

One unexpected good surprise was some production improvements that have happened since my last purchase. Force 12 now drills all rivit holes into the elements simultaneously with a new tool, this creates a much tighter more precise fit for the overlapping sections!

Another bonus was the personal service I received by Tomi....and Mark (the new owner) himself! He would email and call me almost instantly to answer the quesitions I had when building the antenna.

For those of you that want high performance, excellent durability with extremlely low weight and low wind capture, you can't beat these antennas!

73,

Jim Nitzberg WX3B

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Earlier 5-star review posted by WX3B on 2007-08-14

In the winter of 2000, I installed my first Force 12 Antenna, the C-3S. It is still operating perfectly today.

Since then, I have installed the following:

EF-420, EF-415, EF-240(X).

These antennas present a low wind profile, are well constructed and preform extremely well.

The 20m antenna received special "rush" order status and Force 12 went above and beyond the call of duty to make sure it got to me on time. I found telephone communication with them excellent.

I would highly recommend these antennas to anyone who wants a well designed / excellent performing system.

Sincerely,

Jim Nitzberg WX3B
K2VI Rating: 2009-02-17
The best customer service Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have delt with all the companies and mark at force 12 really gives you all the answers and is very patient.If customer satisfaction is primary then get a force 12, There antenna's are strong and have excellent foward gain and guaranteed.Try calling cushcraft or MFJ and you will know exactally what i mean.

tony
N7XM Rating: 2006-09-20
EF-230 2 el 30m YAGI Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have this 2 el 30m yagi up at 70 ft
fixed on EUROPE - this is " D " model
for 100mph - it has withstood some
huge winds ! My location is very windy.
and it seems to endure very well while
other yagis come down in pieces.

Well made and reasonably small with
12 ft boom and linear loaded elements.
I have all 40 zones confirmed on 30m.
I use a sloper to fill in the SIDE
NULLS of the YAGI - I can work VK/ZL
off the back of YAGI pretty easily -as
is to be expected with any 2 el YAGI
W7AV Rating: 2006-07-14
EF-230 30m Yagi Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had the EF-230 for 2 years now and have had absolutely no problems with the antenna. It's linear loaded and has 2 elements on a 12 foot boom. I called Force 12 about the short boom and they said it use to be longer but after computer model's revealed that there was no difference between the 18' boom (I think it was 18') and 12' boom with respect to performance. It's a 2 element antenna so the F/B is lacking and side rejection is low----but it really works. I have 145 countries on 30m with this antenna. If you can't put up a 3 element 30m antenna than this is way better than anything out there (except a quad). Easy to assemble and took several snow storms with no problems.
AE9DX Rating: 2006-04-16
Absolutely Excellent!! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased my Force 12 EF420S (the shortened version of the EF420 on a 24 ft boom) approximately one year ago, installed it at 60 ft on a Glen Martin Hazer unit and it has performed flawlessly. This is my 3rd Force 12 antenna and I can't recommend it highly enough. The match is a flat 1:1 right from the box, assembly is simple, with well written instructions, all drilled holes matched perfectly and the antenna performs as advertised. The riveted construction is miles ahead of the competion's "hose clamps"!
Force 12's advertising claims "It's like turning on an amplifier" and I have found it to be true with all their antennas. The antenna has excellent forward gain, good rejection front to back and off the sides and has stood 70 mph winds without problem. I recently purchased their WARC 2/2 for 12 and 17 meters which will be stacked above the EF420S and will review that when it has been up for awhile. Since my first Force 12 , I've bought nothing else!
GM4AFF Rating: 2004-03-24
EF420 - Superb Antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
When they designed the EF-420 they thought of everything, right down to the low glint aluminium. It is a benchmark by which other antennas should be measured. I like the no-fuss, perfectly aligned, rivetted element to boom attachments and the boom to mast clamp is a great invention. I have a Trident, a Cushcraft, and a Create and I'd recommend Force 12 over any of them.
KC6VCH Rating: 2003-06-15
good performance Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
a Force 12 EF420. The EF420 was easy to assemble, simple to place in position on the tower, and was within resonance with a flat VSWR immediately. Average reports seem to indicate about 10dB better over the cushcraft A4S with a better signal to noise. Although the construction is light, it has already stood up well. I highly recommend it! kc6vch chuck
W6ED Rating: 2003-03-29
Great ant.! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have the EF-417 17m 4el Monobander. Went together easily altho I had no previous pop rivet experience. Antenna has great gain and has NO reflected pwr on SWR, and is flat across band. About 3 months after installation the hairpin match experienced wind vibration and broke off. Fix was to trim ends of hairpin, redrill and install with hairpin tucked under coax; no more problems. Without hairpin SWR rose to 1.5