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Reviews For: Force 12 XR5

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

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Review Summary For : Force 12 XR5
Reviews: 14MSRP: 1699
Description:
true 5-band (10,12,15,17,20m) beam
Product is in production
More Info: http://force12inc.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00145
WV1K Rating: 2004-03-26
Took a long time, a tuning problem, but great performance Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I waited 7 weeks for mine to arrive last summer, but it did arrive eventually (2 weeks after scheduled delivery). The antenna was installed professionally as I am disabled.

There was a tuning issue that I understand many have had; 15 meters was low in the higher part of the band. I wanted it from 21000 up as advertised.

After a fashion the issue was corrected (through no fault of F12, Natan, formerly of F12, had the solution right away but the installer took some convincing to do it F12's way).

At only 35 feet, this is an excellent performer. Running 200w, I usually get through moderate and smaller pileups on the first try. There truly have been no P5 style pileups to try it on, so I cannot comment. Signal reports have never been below S7. Literally.

I had never heard Mongolia in 17 years of ham radio. With the XR-5 I worked JT1CO on the first try on 20 CW, with a true 599 both ways.

3B9C was a breeze. As was XF4IH.

Nice job F12. And not a bad job for the antenna installer either, though pricey...
N5WC Rating: 2003-08-20
Fabulous Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Antenna was put together with no gliches. Fine instructions, riveting a snap. Put on tower 45' up. Works all 5 bands with full coverage and low swr and handles Alpha 87A amp at full power no sweat. I would highly recommend this antenna to anyone looking for first class operation with no traps. Extremely pleased with appearance and performance.
N0FGK Rating: 2002-11-28
Works fine.... Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Put up the XR5 along with a new tower in September. Assembly was a snap...:) Gotta love the rivet technique. Attached the XR to the mast, hooked up the coax and away it went. SWR was right where it was supposed to be. No problems so far, other than I discovered how badly I did some pl-259 connectors when I pushed 800 watts to the antenna....:) Signal reports are excellent. The antenna had it's first icing from a storm here in Colorado and the elements sprang back just fine. Wind out here (60mph+) hasn't bothered the antenna a bit.

In short....happy with the antenna and would buy another one in a heartbeat.

Don/N0FGK
K4FRC Rating: 2002-10-14
"Good from the get-go" Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I have had my Force 12 XR5 up at 50' since the first of June. The antenna design and its functionality are both excellent. The antenna went together and went on the air with no problems and operates flawlessly with full coverage on all bands.

As with my EF515, I am well pleased with the XR5. After much investigation it was and is a good choice.