| KC1UA |
Rating:  |
2019-10-24 | |
| Exemplary Support! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| My experience with Brian has been nothing short of fantastic. I installed the 80-10 model in an inverted V configuration, side mounted off of my tower connected to the end of a 10' piece of PVC. The ladder line drops about 40 feet to a Balun Designs 4114T current balun, and then is fed by 50' of RG8X to the shack. I am going to invest in a MFJ-993B tuner as it is better suited to the tuning rigors of these antennas. As it is now the internal tuner in my FT-991A is not happy on 75 and 20 meters but it can only handle SWRs of up to 3:1. A work in progress! My options are limited by my yard size and available mount points. That said I have a 40-10 model on the way now that will run roughly perpendicular to the 80-10. The construction of these antennas is superb, a great combination of durability and light-weightedness that fits my setup perfectly. These two antennas will replace a fan dipole and a California Windom once they are up and properly running. |
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| KC3MIO |
Rating: |
2019-08-21 | |
| After initial difficulties, very pleased |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
My first antenna was a Buckmaster OCF dipole, which works pretty well. I checked into a local 160M net and was told that my store bought antenna was inferior and that I should build an antenna fed with ladderline. While I was trying to figure out how to do that, I came upon trueladderline and their antennas were very competitive with buying the materials and building the antenna.
My original intention was to buy a 160-10 doublet, but decided that there was good way to site in on my property. So I bought a 80-10 model and began my odyssey. After a month or two of fiddling and adjusting, I had the antenna working well. The problems were caused by my inexperience and unfamilarity with open line. The line has to be kept away from the ground and the house and the feed line should hang as straight as possible. The last problem was distortion on SSB on some bands, traced down to RF in the mic cord of my Inrad W1(?!). I found a post on eham that suggested replacing the mic adapter with the Heil adapter and last problem solved.
With my MFJ 939 tuner, SWR is very close to 1:1 on all bands. It even tunes up on 160 and during the NAQP last week, I made contacts out to about 400 miles with 100 watts on my 7300. It works very well when I operate QRP at 5 watts, into the midwest and southeast.
Most mornings, I check into the New England Weather Net and the farthest stations from me are in northern ME, about 550 miles away. An op in VT asked me if I was running an amplifier because my signal was so solid. I usually tune up with <=10 watts and I inadvertently checked in with 5 watts and was copied easily in MA and ME.
AB testings shows that this antenna generally outperforms the OCF, although there are infrequent occasions when the OCF is better. I have a bunch of feedline left and am thinking about building a 40-10 or possibly another 80-10 oriented perpendicularly to my 80-10 (currently 345D - 165D). Per Dick Cebik's article on the trueladderline website (FAQs), some of the radiation patterns are interesting on 20M and up and another antenna would be handy to have.
The antenna is currently at 40' and when the leaves come off the trees, I plan to raise it to 50' and orient it closer to NS.
This is a great antenna and I am very pleased with it. |
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| KE2ES |
Rating: |
2017-12-31 | |
| Excellent product(s); Superior Customer Support |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| I installed the 80-10 all-band doublet in a flat-top configuration between two trees this past summer. It's up about 45' and I'm using a 150' length of OWL that's terminated into a Balun Design 4115T with a 20' length of RG8X coming into the shack where I'm using an MFJ 289C manual tuner. The antenna was very easy to install, low maintenance, lightweight, and has held up through several storms. Easy of tuning including across MARS/CAP frequencies, low noise, increased receive sensitivity and good signal reports. I purchased a 160-10 doublet as a backup. Brian, WB2JIX has provided excellent service and I'm very pleased that he acquired the W7FG company from the widow of the late Cherlie Redding, K5JYB in late 2014. In closing, I think it's worth mentioning that Brian's manufacturing facility utilizes employees with disabilities and their quality and workmanship has been outstanding. 73 Tom, KE2ES |
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| K5MH |
Rating: |
2017-12-25 | |
| Superb Antenna, Superb Customer Service |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I purchased the 160-10 meter version of the W7FG doublet along with 700 feet(!) of open wire line. Both the product and the customer support were extraordinary.
After moving to a valley in western Montana, I wanted to position an antenna on a high, wooded ridge to the east of the house. Given the extreme length of the feedline required, I knew that a multiband doublet with tuned open-wire line would be one of the few plausible options. Brian not only sold me the necessary materials, but he mentored me during every phase of this ambitious project. We exchanged nearly 30 messages during a 90-day period.
The result was highly successful: a match close to 1:1 on every band (with a Palstar AT2K), extremely low noise levels, and effectiveness in working DX. In casual operating with less than 100 watts, I worked 116 DX stations in less than 6 months despite very poor band conditions. I could not ask for anything better than that. |
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| NY8T |
Rating: |
2017-12-14 | |
| Excellent performance |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
80 meter version open wire feed W7FG Doublet.
Only been up one day but this is the 80 meter band FT-8 digital mode operating under 50 watts at 6:30 pm. This antenna is performing wonderfully and its not even up very high due to the snow storm that hit before it arrived. Tunes all HF bands above its fundamental.
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| PY1FA |
Rating: |
2016-10-27 | |
| *** Simply amazing *** |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I've done several experiments with multiband antennas, and was good and a band and bad in others. Today, installed the W7FG and could compare with ZS6BKW, which was my antenna holder, and to take the tests, the W7FG was superior in all the bands from 80 to 10m, then, is successfully approved !!! |
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| K9VKY |
Rating: |
2016-09-19 | |
| Excellent deal |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I can't say enough good things about Brian, WB2JIX, for his personal attention to my questions even while he was on vacation. The 80 Meter antenna was cut to my specification (CW portion of 80M versus the middle of the band), and shipped the day after I ordered it. The next business day, the antenna was on my porch. The antenna is one continuous line of tangle free wire on each leg, and will not have the problems of oxidation and corrosion seen on previous doublet antennas. I expect the antenna will last longer than I will. |
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| N1WDS |
Rating: |
2016-02-03 | |
| W7FG 10-160 meter antenna |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I am a long time user of wire antennas of all sorts, shapes and sizes. Over the years I have used 450 ohm window line to feed them and a couple of Johnson Matchboxes to tune them. I've appreciated their efficiency and I've enjoyed the ability to "work 'em if I can hear 'em". I had a home brewed 10-80 meter antenna with an overall length of 135' hanging in an inverted 'V' configuration at my QTH for the past six years and it functioned flawlessly. That antenna buried my first HF antenna the "Cobra Ultralite". What a piece of junk that was! I could barely be heard on a local net on 80 meters!
The June 2015 issue of QST contained an outstanding article by R. Straw entitled "Don't Blow Up Your Balun". The author did a good job convincing me of the virtues of using a 600 ohm feed line. I must say that I was horrified by seeing how much power was not making it to the antenna even though I was using a very efficient feed line. The losses at using legal limit power were almost equivalent to the output of an Ameritron AL-811! The losses for those using coax to feed their antennas was absolutely staggering!
I had given thought to building my own 600 ohm feed line but I happened to come across www.trueladderline.com. I had just moved to a new QTH and the demands of my job were keeping me away from home and no spare time so I decided to order the 10-160 meter version of their doublet antennas.
I can't say enough good about this antenna. I've made contacts on 10-160 meters, repeatedly. I work all of the DX I want to. I've also noticed that I now work into South America at 100W whereas, in the past, I needed to switch on an amplifier to make those contacts on my home brewed antenna. I spent a little time at the outset of installing this antenna using a MFJ-259B antenna analyzer to carefully trim the feed line to achieve an SWR of less than 1.4:1 on all bands using a Johnson Matchbox tuner. I also have a Heathkit 2060A tuner (Which uses an internal 4:1 Balun) predominately for 160 meters and the SWR is 1:1 on all bands.
If you're contemplating upgrading your feed line to 600 ohms or looking to abandon your lossy coax fed antenna to something much more efficient, try this antenna. There are many misconceptions out there about open wire feed lines. Don't believe them! The only thing you're missing is power at your radiators and your ability to hear weaker stations! This antenna has done an outstanding job standing up to the wind, ice and snow of Winter here in Vermont! I would definitely buy this product again. |
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| WA4YBC |
Rating: |
2016-01-28 | |
| 160M W7FG Great Antenna |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| For the last 9 months, I have been using the W7FG 160 dipole with 600 ohm open wire feed line from TrueLadderLine.com, and it works great. This was my first experience using open wire feed line, and Brian, WB2JIX gave me great support. I can often be found on 160M round tables, and get great reports. I use my antenna mostly on 40M. On 40M, the antenna has some good gain, and I get 59+ signal reports out of Europe often. All the myths that I was told about open wire feed line turned out to be ignorant BS. Working with open wire feed line has been really simple. I use the MFJ 976 tuner with it, and the MFJ 976 does a great job matching my open wire feed line. My open wire feed line length is 125 ft, and my MFJ 976 has no problems with it. When I run barefoot, my old TenTec Model 277 tuner works great with it. You can occasionally find the TenTec Model 277 for $50 on eBay. The only real warning about open wire feedline is to keep the feed line 3 or 4 inches away from any metal. Most hams can figure that out. Since the W7FG 160 meter dipole is fed in the middle, the open wire feed line is balanced. The electrical and magnetic fields from a balanced antenna cancel each other in the open wire feed line, and I see no RF issues with the feed line in my ham shack. This is the best multi band wire antenna that I have used, and I have been a ham for 51 years. |
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| KD4LYH |
Rating: |
2008-02-25 | |
| Replaced my 450ohm all band doublet |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I thought I was upgrading my all band antenna fed with 100 feet of 450ohm ladderline boy did I make a mistake. I have the antenna 50 feet at the apex(same as my other antenna it replaced) wont tune 20 or 10 meters. The spreaders look like some kind of pvc, the first thunderstorm I had here at my qth ripped the wire out of the pvc spreaders. Other than not tuning 20 or 10 and having to keep repairing the wire that pulls out of the spreaders everytime it storms: it works as it should on 80 and 40. The way the wire is held in the spreader needs work or maybe this antenna isnt designed to handle Florida weather. For what I paid for it I shouldnt be having these kinds of problems. |
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