| EI4KE |
Rating:  |
2013-09-16 | |
| Great antennas |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I use the 40 short and the 80 special,,,both great antennas...........no problems at all, the 80 must be 10/12 years old now.. |
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| W3NRL |
Rating: |
2011-08-03 | |
| After 4 years |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
After 4 years my CW80 Special has been flawless, i use it everyday 80-10 meters ( with tuner ) with no problems what so ever, i am thinking of modifying the antenna to take the 10 foot vertical and adding an 18 foot vertical drop down and see what happen, maybe this fall.. highly recommend Jim's products.
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Earlier 5-star review posted by W3NRL on 2007-09-29
After doing all my homework on this antenna and writing Jim at Radioworks, i bought the cw-80-special and yes just like the rest of the testimonies here this antenna works for me. i get 1:1:1 on all bands (tuner is Palstar AT1KM), first i noticed the s-3 or better increase on rx and i have a friend in Italy i talk to almost every day he asked if i have a beam now ( ya right !!! i have no room), he said my report came up from my everyday 5n3 to 5n5 to 5n9+. so i recommend this antenna. And for customer service all contacts to Jim and his staff was answered right away, Jim great customer service to you and your staff. Thanks again
de w3nrl
Nick
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| WA4JM |
Rating: |
2011-06-29 | |
| The CW 80 Special Re-Visited for FD 2011 |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Having used one of these antennas back in 2004 for FD, I decided to give it another go and once again I was very satisfied with the results.
The antenna was configured in an inverted vee with the apex only about 25 feet off the ground. The overall length of the antenna is 66 feet so tying it off was no problem. The ends were about 10 feet of the ground.
The rig was a Ten-Tec Jupiter with a built in antenna tuner. The antenna was fed with about 100 feet of RG-8X. The internal tuner easily matched the antenna from 40 to 10 meters. On 80 meters it was out of the range of the tuner. My guess is that an external tune would cut it at reduced power as recommended by Radio Works as the antenna is really too short for efficent operation on 80. However, in a short lot this may be the antenna for you.
FYI: I disabled the tuner and drove the antenna with about 20 watts to see what the actual S.W.R. was, and from 40 up it was in the range of 2.5:1. So as mentioned before, any tuner can handle.
How did it perform? Even at the low height and VERY casual operating, I was able to log 187 contacts in many states including Hawaii and the U.S Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
The antenna was nicely packaged, and the instructions were clear and concise. Easy to put up and take down.
I continue to recommend this antenna for FD and those with limited space. |
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| N6OSB |
Rating: |
2011-01-21 | |
| It works |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
The antenna is advertised as 80-10M antenna and it does just that with my TS-2000's built in tuner. I'm actually able to work 80-6 Meters. Please note I'm not able to work 75 meters, or a portion of 6 meters.
If you plan do work SSB on 75m with this antenna, your internal ATU may not cut it. Or if you have an ATU with limited capability you might be limited to 40-10M.
Nothing real special about the antenna. I can't say it works any better and a traditional Carolina Windom. |
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| EI4GMB |
Rating: |
2010-06-26 | |
| 80 Special V G5RV Jr !!! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
The Radio Works Carolina Windom 80 Special(66ft) was the second wire antenna I bought as a Radio Amateur. I used it in conjunction with a G5RV Jr(51ft). The following are my observations:-
1. The Windom seems to be a bit deaf. On a long haul contact to Australia I could hear the VK station more clearly on my G5RV Jr !!! The 80 Special was almost 4 times the price!!!
2.The Windom is noisier. So you need to ground it and get it up high!!!
3.Although advertised the 80 Special cannot
handle over 500W SSB!!! If you exceed this limit you will burn it out!!!
4.Despite being 66ft long and a compromise on 80m the antenna performs suprisingly well on this band. I have had some excellent reports on 80m!!!
In conclusion if I had the choice between the G5RV Jr and the Radio Works Carolina Windom 80 Special I'd go back to the G5RV Jr everytime. It is 1/4 of the price and has the edge over the windom on receive. However if you are looking for a limited space (66ft) multi-band antenna(80m,40m,20m,17m,15m,12m,10m) that also covers 80m than I would certainly go for the 80 Special!!! |
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| W8DMC |
Rating:  |
2009-05-12 | |
| For the price...JUNK |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| Had two, both fell apart...Won't give them a 3rd time.....Too many Other Great Wire Antennas |
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| WB4TJH |
Rating: |
2009-05-11 | |
| 5+ years and still fine. |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Mine has now been up over 5 years here in Sarasota, Fl., and has survived some torrential tropical downpours and near hurricane force winds with ZERO problems other than frayed support ropes, which I have replaced several times. Mine runs north and south over my house, and is my best antenna into Europe and Africa, and Austrailia on 40 and 20 meters, often 10db better than my ground mounted 4BTV vertical with 15 radials. I had mine made up with 13 guage insulated wire, and the extra strength and weather resistance has more than paid for the extra few dollars it cost originally. The 80 meter feature works, but not very well, and is often 10 to 15 db below a Sprio all band dipole with loading coils that is 45 feet up in my pine trees. I use a wide banded external auto tuner with mine. If I were to get another CW, it would probably be the 40 meter version with the extra long vertical radiator, but I would still have it made up with the extra heavy, 13 guage insulated wire for extra strength. If you weather proof this antenna like the directions recommend, I think it will serve you well for many years. Mine sure has.
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Earlier 5-star review posted by WB4TJH on 2008-02-06
I have now had my CW Windom 80 Special up almost FOUR years and I live only three miles from the Gulf of Mexico and saltwater. I am very glad I had it custom made with the extra heavy 13 guage insulated wire for strength and corrosion resistance. It has not been touched since the day I put it up except to replace the support lines a couple of times.It continues to be my favorite 40-10 meter antenna. I have used it on 75, but I have another antenna up for 80/75 that is full sized and works better, but the Special will load and radiate on 75, just not as well. But that is expected, since it is only 1/4 wave long on 75. But for for 40 and up, it's a superb antenna, especially for long haul. Just be sure you waterproof the balun and line isolator well before you put it up. Mine has been through two near misses by hurricanes and some torrential subtropical downpours. So far, it's doing its job well.
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Earlier 5-star review posted by WB4TJH on 2006-06-28
I have now had this antenna in the air just over two years and have yet to have any problems of any kind with it. I have had to replace the rope holding it in the pine trees a couple of times due to wear thru, but the antenna itself has survived torrential rain and winds up to 70 miles per hour. I live only three miles from salt water, and so far, it has held up just super. I was smart in having it made with 13 guage insulated wire...I had to pay a bit extra for that..but it has sure been worth it to have an extra heavy duty antenna. It performs very well and I can work anyone I can hear. I feed it with an SGC MAC-200 auto tuner. I even use it on 6 meters. I am thinking about replacing my 135 foot, balanced feed line dipole with a full sized Carolina Windom 80. That will give me TWO CW antennas at right angles to each other. I live in Sarasota, Florida, and the climate here is subtropical and we can get some heavy rain and wind. I have had two hurricanes pass within 25 miles of my qth, and the 70 mile per hour winds we got did not faze my Carolina Windom. I just dropped a few feet of slack in the end support ropes so the pine trees could sway and not put too much strain on the antenna. Just be sure you waterproof the baluns properly, and you will not have any trouble. If you have heavy weather, it is well worth the extra money to have Jim make up one for you with the heavier guage insulated wire for strength and corrosion resistance. I would not hesitate to buy this antenna again, and I hope to soon add the second one to my station. Radio Works is a fine company to work with, and I know you will be satisfied with their antennas.I have been on the air for 37 years now, and this is the best wire antenna I have used.
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Earlier 5-star review posted by WB4TJH on 2004-06-26
I have had this antenna up for about 2 months here in Sarasota, FL., and have found it to be a very good performer. I work mostly qrp and have worked the world with it on both qrp cw and ssb. It works pretty well on 75 despite being only a quarter wave long. Be sure you do a good job waterproofing both the line isolator and the balun. We have almost daily thunderstorms here in Southwest Florida and the antenna has held up well. It is my only HF antenna at this time and I can find no real faults with it. I paid extra and had my antenna made with extra heavy PVC insulated wire to withstand the salt air and heavy winds here near the Gulf of Mexico. The antenna performs well and I would not hesitate to buy another. |
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| KB1QBZ |
Rating: |
2009-02-27 | |
| Does Need a GOOD Tuner on 80/75 |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I wrote an ehhh review of this antenna a few weeks ago, but I've come to discover that most of the problems were mine, so I've withdrawn that review and am putting this one in its place.
Original Problem: I just wasn't getting out on 80/75. My tuner (an LDG AT-897 on a Yaesu FT-897) was tuning up a low SWR, but nobody (and I mean nobody) was hearing me.
Solution: Get an external tuner as instructed in the Radioworks catalog and the instructions that come with the antenna. Amazing what results you can get when you follow instructions. I'm now using an MFJ Versa Tuner II (the 941 model). My 80/75 signal is getting out and I'm receiving good signal reports from all over the country, even into Arizona and Washington State.
I've also tried 75/80 with an Elecraft KAT100 autotuner and gotten equally good results, including 80 CW QSOs with Amsterdam, Latvia, and Estonia.
The antenna has consistently performed well on 40, 20 and 10 with just the LDG tuner and I've managed to repeatedly work into Australia, Indonesia, Europe, South America and mainland Asia on 20 and into Europe on 10 in those rare moments when 10 is open. 15 is still a question mark because the band is deader than dead, but my testing indicates that I'm getting out a good signal.
The antenna is not optimally mounted -- it's at 30 ft above ground on one end and at 45 ft above ground at the other, and runs east/west. That height gives me pretty much an omnidirectional radiation pattern on 80, a close to omnidirectional pattern on 40, and somewhat bidirectional patterns on 20 and above. It also means that I'm going to get more short-skip than long-skip, but as noted I have worked some good DX.
Support from Jim at Radioworks has been excellent. He's a bit slow in responding to emails (as much as a day's delay), but if you pick up the phone and call him you can get him right away and he'll work with you to answer questions and solve problems. |
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| KE5DFR |
Rating: |
2008-08-15 | |
| Works good |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
The windom 80 Special was my first dipole and it fitted the area I had to work with. At first it was about 30' in the air and over part of my house. It picked up a lot of static.
Raised it to 50', but still over the house and no more static.
I use both a 300 watt manual tuner, and a KDG AT200 Pro. The LDG has no problem tuning the antenna and I have talked all over the US, into Canada and South America from Houston. I have not had the opporitunity to work DX with the poor band conditions.
I use it with a Kenwood TS830S Gold and get great signal reports with only 100 watts on days that everyone else is running at least 500 watts and beam antennas.
My other antenna is a Butternut HF9V, ground mounted with 12, 30' radials. Between the two antennas, I can usually get out to some one. The Windom has been getting more use than the vertical for the past 6 months. |
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| M0BJL |
Rating: |
2007-08-25 | |
| Superb Antenna |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Having trauled through the many reviews of various Windom antenna manufacturers I eventually opted for the Radio Works 80 Special, this was purely down the many 5/5 reviews listed. The antenna arrived, well packed witha superb manual, the wire, insulators, balun etc were all very well constructed. I have fed mine at around 50feet on a fibreglass spiderbeam mast, the antenna is in an Inv V configuration with the ends around 25ft high.
After erecting the antenna a quick spin across the bands showed that SWR on 20m and 40m were zero (without tuner), all of the other bands were easily tuned with my Linear Amp Uk Supertuner. The first band I tested the antenna was on 40m SSB, I found a huge pile up and after two calls managed to work A52AM in Bhutan with 5/8 reports both ways, I don't own an amplifier so with just 100watts I was very pleased. The 80m performance is ok, so far just working Europe with no long haul contacts but this is down to conditions.
I have been able to work everything I have heard on all bands, so for me this is a fantastic antenna.
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