| W5NNN |
Rating:  |
2012-11-09 | |
| Just as you would hope |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
There are several versions, I have the "Yo-Yo-Vee" Portable Inverted Vee flavor. I like the concept.
From my empirical fiddling the insulated wire seems to have a 0.81 velocity factor, so the 468/f dipole frequancy will be off. Give 400/f a try. |
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| VE3LNU |
Rating: |
2010-09-15 | |
| Best portable HF antenna around |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I have tried a few portable antenna configurations with my FT 817, including a random wire with the MFJ random wire tuner, the MFJ 1899T with a counterpoise, and the YoYo Tenna Deluxe. For a quick and truly portable setup, I would rate them in the following order: YoYo Tenna, MFJ 1899T, and then the random wire (the reason I rate the random wire last is because it's more complex to set up a vertical random wire of sufficient length without special supports).
It's funny how tried and true principles can seldom be improved upon, and I find this to be very true for the good old dipole. Operating on 5 watts from a park near my office today (Toronto, Canada) with the YoYo Tenna Deluxe, I worked Croatia and Hungary on 20m CW with reports of 569 and 559. What is most significant about this is that the highest part of the antenna was perhaps 6 or 7 feet off the ground, slung in some low tree branches!
Usually a dipole needs to be about a 1/2 wavelength off the ground to give you a good angle of radiation for dx. Like other reviewers on this site, I have found that you can get around this by stringing the wires as vertically as possible, then using a tuner like the MFJ 16010.
So forget about the so-called 'miracle' antennas and go for a simple dipole. When you're talking dipoles, the YoYo Tenna Deluxe is about as portable as you can get.
Wishing you good QRP DX,
Joe, VE3LNU |
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| AI4HO |
Rating: |
2010-01-20 | |
| Great antenna in a small package! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I usually try and write at least a few lines about the pieces of equipment I have or have used, this one got me, I totally missed doing a few lines about the gret and wonderful YoYO Tenna Deluxe. I bought one of these little gems back when I was chairman of our field day committee, it was a committee of one....me. But I digress, I had e mailed the company about obtaining one for our field day. Well the order was submitted and thankfully I had received it just days before our field day.
Truth to tell it was actually the high point of our field day, we were running as a 2A at the time, and didn't have a lot of resources to work with. A couple of vertical antennas and the YoYo Tenna, we had strung it out the full length so to turn it into a 40 meter dipole. I must say, this antenna preformed rather well especially in the CW portion of 40 meters. If I remember right we did very well on CW that year.
I had that antenna for a couple of years after that, when at some function or another, maybe it was at another field day the wires got strung out one end more so than the other, but the damage was done, and sadly couldn't be salvaged, we did manage to cobble it together for the event, but it didn't work as well as well as it should have. Tried to put it back the way it had been, maybe as good, certainly not better, but it wasn't to be.
Think I'm gonna have ta order another one of their antennas, now that the QRP bug has bitten....again, I'm going to want something that ix easily transportable, doesn't take up a lot of room, can be easily deployed, yet can still get you on the bands and get your signal out into the ether. Guess its time to get out of here, check out the web site, figure out which antenna its gonna be this time. This id one great antenna in a small package, you can't go wrong with one of these.
73 de Mark
W3LZK |
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| WB6SIK |
Rating: |
2009-07-20 | |
| Why oh why |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| Why oh why are you spending so much money on single band end feed antennas or what I call; *mobile whip dipoles*? I have the fan dipole version of this antenna called the Yo-YoVee model #6. I normally use it without a tuner 80% of the time. If I use it with a tuner, it works well on 75 meters too. Yes it takes some time to adjust all of the ends for minimum SWR when you first innstall. But it is a whole lot easier and faster than twisting and untwisting wires around insulators. All you have to do is a little bit of winding and unwinding of the reels. Yes, its just a dipole. But its a very clever dipole that is so easy to put up and adjust and it works extremely well. Every ham should have one of these as a spare just in case their regular antenna comes down in a storm, at least in my opinion. Thank you for reading my review. |
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| KE4GRP |
Rating: |
2009-06-02 | |
| Works Great |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I thought I had reviewed this antenna, but can't find where I did.
I have the 6 spool version and have been using it as a base antenna for about 2 years. I use it with the Kenwood TS 480 HX and the LDG at-200 pro.
I have all the legs extended to their fullest with the apex up about 20 feet and sloping down to trees about 6 feet.
Have made contacts in every state (except Alaska) and most of EU. It has held up exceptional well in the Ohio wx and seems to be very strong, even in the higher winds.
For the price, there is no reason why everyone can't own one of these. |
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| KD0BIE |
Rating: |
2008-12-21 | |
| Great Portable Antenna! |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| I have had the YoYo Tenna Deluxe for about at a year. I use it as a portable antenna and as a back up to my main dipole. Great singles received and sent. I would recommend it for any back up or main dipole antenna. I would recommend a antenna tuner for this as well. Hard to get good SWR on 70cm and 2m, but I did not buy it for that that. Cheap and worth it, and Bill, the owner and fabricator, answers all questions. |
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| KC8VZW |
Rating: |
2008-04-01 | |
| About time!!!! |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
For years we've been featuring at our local shopping mall, a complete HF-VHF-UHF station during the spring season to demonstrate our SkyWarn severe weather operations. We have tried to show passers by in the mall that we can talk around the world. But for many years, we have not been able to even contact many folks within the USA. We've used Hamsticks elevated to the highest point in the mall even inside the ceiling windows. No luck. Same for the Buddipole. But this year, we tried this YoYoTenna Deluxe model. What a difference. And it wasn't due to any increase in sunspots. They were still zero on the day we were on the air. But I believe since this was a portable, but full size antenna, it had a lot to do with the performance of the station. I was still skeptical and took it home and stuck it up on my TV tower and ran coax into my shack. Worked even better than inside the mall. (of course.) My point is this-I would recommend this wonderful little antenna for any operation whether portable or at the home qth. If you camp, you can put it in your purse. (For you OM's, it might be too big to put in your wallet,. Hi.) I had to return the club's YoYoDeluxe but bought one for myself. I was also surprised that it worked very well on 60 meters without a tuner. I'm surprised the company doesn't advertise this fact. But we've been working 60 meter stations all over the country, and sometimes into the UK. I plan on getting more single reels for 75 and 160 when my IRS rebate check comes. You just can't beat this antenna and the ease with which you can adjust the length for best SWR. SWR is about 1.1 to 1 when you get it adjusted to the frequency you want. Good luck. And DWM or HamRadioFun guys/gals, tell the customers this antenna works great on 60 meters too.
73's and 88's from Judy |
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| N2PKN |
Rating: |
2007-09-02 | |
| GREAT !!! |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
What a great product,easy up and down and so small and yes it WORKS !!!
Grab a couple and you will be well pleased
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| former_WA6L_JG |
Rating: |
2007-07-05 | |
| Best Field Antenna For The Money |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
The Yo-Yo Deluxe is a dipole, and electrically it will work no better or worse than any other dipole. But what makes this antenna special is the ease with which you can deploy it.
I use the Yo-Yo along with a collapsible fiberglass mast and have been able to quickly and easily set up a field-expedient antenna that works extremely well. Most recently, I used it on Field Day for a QRP battery-operated station and had excellent results.
I generally set it up as an inverted-V. That can be a little difficult since the eyelets on the spools are tiny, and you can't connect anything thicker than a piece of string when you go to tie down the ends. A quick work-around for that problem is to add one of those little spiral key-ring holders to each eyelet, and you can now connect thicker wire or even rope. That would be a nice feature to have out of the box.
If you are looking for a well-made and easy antenna for field use, you aren't going to beat this one. And the price is more than reasonable.
73,
John, WA6L |
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| WB5CON |
Rating: |
2007-07-03 | |
| Great go anywhere antenna that performs! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have had the YoYo Deluxe 2 reel dipole for about 3 years. It is the best antenna I have found for portable operation. It takes up very little room when stowed but is easy to set up. Being a full size dipole, it is efficient compared to mobile or portable antennas that are short whips.
I have used it in the city park for Field Day, camping, on a condo balcony on the Gulf Coast, on my sailboat hoisted up the mast on one end and tied to the stern rail on the bottom end for a center fed sloper. I have also taken it to a ham club meeting and used it on 20 meters to demonstrate a live PSK31 station.
I marked the wires for each band so it is very easy to roll out the right length of wire for each band. However, fully extended, it is longer than a 40 meter dipole and works well on 80 through 6 meters with my Z-11 tuner. I have checked in to our 75 meter state net with the YoYo running 5 watts (about 250 mile path).
I have not left it up for any length of time. It is usually up no more than 2 or 3 days each time I use it. I have run a maximum of 100 watts with the antenna but usually run 5 watts.
It is ideal for my portable needs. |
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