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Reviews For: High Sierra HS-1800DX Screwdriver

Category: Antennas: HF Mobile & Accessories

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Review Summary For : High Sierra HS-1800DX Screwdriver
Reviews: 22MSRP: 395
Description:
Screwdriver antenna, replaces the HS-1500. Power rating 1000 watts. Tunes 3.5-30 Mhz with a 6' whip or 6.9-60 Mhz without a whip. 10.5' long when extended with 6' whip.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.cq73.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00224.8
KB7TSE Rating: 2004-02-26
The best that money can buy. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had my High Sierra 1800 since Dayton of 2002. Before that I had an HS 1500, and they are without a doubt the best mobile HF antennas on the market. Installation is easy with their custom mounting bracket. The manual is clear and provides troubleshooting information, should you need it. The antenna is built to the highest standards, with custom manufactured parts specific to the antenna, not something adapted for use, like a sprinkler cap. Other antennas on the market now appear very similar to the HS 1800, but I would dare anybody to take them apart and compare. There is a reason that the HS antenna is better, and you can clearly see the difference.
NK2Y Rating: 2003-08-16
Great antenna. Great customer service Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I wanted a radio and antenna combo that would autotune, so I purchased the Icom 706MKIIG, Am-Com controller and the 1800DX. This is a great antenna, but how it performs will be up to how you install it. Due to the 3 feet of snow in the yard when I bought mine, I put it in the attic crawlspace. I tried a metal shelf and then 6' X 10' of metal mesh as a counterpoise. Due to my poor choice of location, a confined attic space full of household wiring in a house with aluminum siding, I experienced TVI and RFI and poor performance. The RFI was so bad, that even with a line isolator my rig would power off when I used the remote head. When the snow finally melted, I moved the antenna to my yard on a 4' stake in the ground with 16 radials (4 32', 4 16', 4 11' and 4 8'). The radials are 14 gauge solid copper insulated wire buried just under the ground. Now, I'm getting great performance. I just now got a 59 from Arkansas. Last night, a 59 from Kuwait and over the last few evenings, 59 reports from Germany, Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Spain. In addition, the customer support was incredible. Throughout my efforts to make the antenna work in the attic, Jim Heath and the folks at High Sierra gave me an incredible amount of good advice and handholding with frequent instantaneous email replies even on weekends. When I finally followed their advice on how to install the antenna in the yard, I found the antenna to be every bit as good as advertised. I also learned a lot from them about proper grounding and the use of a counterpoise. As my black antenna installation is only about 5 feet tall (I don't have the whip on it), it doesn't even look like an antenna. If you install it near a wind sock on a plastic stick, people would probably think it was part of a weather station.
NS5O Rating: 2003-03-09
Awesome antenna! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have to admit I tossed and turned on which antenna I wanted to purchase for mobile use. I've had mobile antennas in the past on the car, and I was always so frustrated with them.

Jim Heath talked to me for at least a couple of hours on the phone about his antenna. I also talked with a couple of hams locally that had the 1800DX as well as e-mailing a couple of people from eham.net.

The antenna itself blew away all of my expectations. The installation was so easy. The first band I tried was 20m. My first two contacts were in SW New Mexico and central California. Just about every day I get on 17m to call CQ and have no problems with finding people to come back to me. I constantly am told I have a terrific mobile signal. Net controls on the traffic nets on 40m and 75m always compliment me.

A note on the grounding. I highly suggest you buy the HS-10 ground strap that High Sierra sells. Bolting it to the sheet metal works great, but I went a step further. I took a file and right inside the back door on my Expedition I removed some paint from the metal and used a torch to solder it on. I have seen improvement doing this. I can turn the car on and off and I don't have problems with noise. There is no difference with the car running or not.

A small problem that I ran into is that there was too much inductance in the coil at the bottom of the antenna that connects the radiating element to the ground. The Expedition is a very large vehicle and requires less inductance. I had difficulty getting a lower than 2:1 VSWR on 40m, 75m and 80m. Per Jim's instructions I just streched the coil out a bit and the VSWR will go down to 1.1:1 (although 2:1 is really all that's required).

I am extremely happy with this antenna. It is very much worth every penny. The antenna exudes quality construction and Jim is always available to answer any questions. (Sorry Jim for pestering you so much).

I'll soon have pictures up of my installation on my web site. http://ns5o.net

I'll report back in a year after I've gone through the suggested maintenance and to report how it's held up.
K6ZSX Rating: 2003-02-10
Great Antenna Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I've had mine for about a year. It works great. I had the 1500 before my new antenna. And, it worked good too. I use the 1800DX on the car and at home.
N7XQ Rating: 2003-01-15
Excellent Antenna & Customer Service Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I would highly recommed the the HS-1800DX Antenna, it is built solid and the performance keeps on surprising me. I talked directly with Jim Heath at High Serria about what I thought was a small problem and he insisted I send it back to have it looked at. Turn around time was only One Day. Excellent Antenna and Excellent Customer service! I would Highly Recommed.
Craig
N7XQ
W9AIR Rating: 2002-12-04
Best mobile antenna I have ever used! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Over the years I have used a number of mobile antennas on HF. Some were better than others, but all had at least one drawback. The High Sierra 1800Dx is by far the best HF mobile antenna I have ever used! Jim Heath at High Sierra is top-notch in support. I hear stations better and am getting better reports with this antenna than with any other I have used. I am a "band-hopper" and enjoy being able to change bands without having to get out of the vehicle. I get 1.5 to 1 swr on all bands. Running 100 watts, I have had people tell me that they are surprised that I am mobile. The antenna was easy to install as I am using the hitch mount on my van. I was up and running within 30 minutes after receiving it. Extensive grounding is required, but think this helps the receive end as well as the transmit. I recommend this antenna to anyone who is serious about HF mobiling.
N0JW Rating: 2002-11-25
far beyond expectations Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
What a great ant. This far exceeds my expectations. QTH here is a condo, ground level. Patio 6X10 FT. I purchased 30 ft. of 1/4 inch hardware cloth 2 ft. wide, cut it in 3 ten foot sections to provide the ground plane, overlapped each section by 2 inches, then ran ground wire from each hardware cloth section to the HS-1800 DX. This hardware cloth was covered by one piece indoor/outdoor carpeting 6X10 FT. I am surrounded by 3 sides of the condo, all within about 10-20 feet of the Ant, with the only opening being to the North. The condo patio floor aove me is about 14 ft. high. I elected to cut about 2 feet off the HS-110 whip, this would cost me the 75/80 meter band which was realized before cutting. Am able to work much DX with 100 watts with SWR being 1.4 to 1 or less on all bands 40-10 Meters. Have been able to crack several pileups on first call. I feel HS-1800DX is very well made, quality being first class. Jim Heath at High Sierra has been most helpful before and after purchase. Needless to say I am very impressed with Ant. and High Sierra. Keep up good work Jim!
WA8VIJ Rating: 2002-11-07
A great antenna !! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Jim Heath at High Sierra provides an excellent manual for installation and operation of the antenna.
I immediately had great results and made several DX contacts as soon as I had the antenna installed.
(I'd write more but this is the third time I have tried to get this website to save my review)
I highly recommend the High Sierra antenna.
NA6E Rating: 2002-10-27
Fantastic, Fun, Efficient Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Thanks High Sierra for another great product.

I was fortunate to be able to use the HS-1800 portable this year (2002) in the California Qso Party, expedition catagory.

Jim Heath supplied me with the 1800, tripod and radials. Setup was flawless, even though the 1800 is longer than my 1500 on the truck. The radials, coax and power connectors all went together without a hitch.

Operation was as expected. Full coverage from 80 cw to 10 phone. The mechanical aspects of this antenna are unparalleled. High quality, high tolerance and resistance to operator error, if the tuning switch is held in one position!

Without a doubt, the High Sierra products are the most rugged, versatile, best playing antennas around. This unit would be great for deck top, patio stealth operation in antenna restricted areas. I practiced with this antenna in the back yard and had many nice psk and rtty contacts world wide.

Keep up the great work and look forward to having a crack at the new adjustable dipole!!

Thanks again Jim and company.

Mary, NA6E
W8HJ Rating: 2002-08-11
Very Good Product Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased the antenna in Dayton this year and installed it in the attic of my condo. I installed about 350 feet of random length radials on the ceiling joists for my ground plane. And as the roof trusses are only 6 foot high I had to angle the whip to 30 degrees from the horizontal plane. I have worked Europe on 20 meters with just 25 watts using the FT-1000 MP field running class A so I don't interfere with my neighbors electronics. I have no complaints nor do my neighbors. You can say that this installation is way less than ideal. I think that says all you need to know about High Sierra products.