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Reviews For: Bilal Isotron

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Bilal Isotron
Reviews: 82MSRP: 59.95 to 179.95
Description:
HF Antennas for SMALL Spaces
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.k1cra.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
15824
KD5FX Rating: 2009-05-28
Works good! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I recently purchased a treo of these. One for 80, another for 40 and another for 20. I'm trying these out with the hope that I can sneak them by the 'board' at my new house which restricts outside antennas. They do allow TV antennas so I'm gonna add a UHF antenna to the top and call this
whole arrangement my HDTV antenna!
I put these up one Friday afternoon, I had a major problem with them at first but then I discovered the coax end I put on had a cold solder! After that was fixed I ran several comparisons with my
existing dipoles (80/40 at 15 ft).
The first couple of days I had a high SWR on 80 while 40 and 20 were OK but tuned a little low on the band. So I took it all down again on Monday after work and tweeked on them some more. You tune the large ones by moving the 'stick' (naturally it's called the 'tuning stick') up and down until you get the desired frequency. It's a little touchy, I was tuning them with the pole laying over so the antennas were near the ground then standing it up to double check. SWR got much better with it up of course. After tweaking for over an hour I had them all looking good until I put it all back up again. I did find one strange thing. If the pole the antennas are on was touching the flashing at the edge of my roofing it
changed the SWR! The manuals all say the pole should be grounded but I'm not gonna do that for just a temporary test.

After having them up in the air for a few days.
I put all my reports in a spreadsheet and then ranked them by which antenna won, the dipole, isotron, or the hexbeam (only for 20 mtrs). The beam was always pointed towards the station I was monitoring.

Results (by band):
80 Mtrs
9 Dipole wins
0 Iso wins
8 TIE
40 Mtrs
3 Dipole wins
3 Iso wins
15 TIE
20 Mtrs
0 Iso wins
5 TIE
4 Beam wins

So, overall it seems to me that on 80 meters the dipole usually wins, on 40 meters it's usually a tie and on 20 meters it's also close, usually a tie, with a hexbeam!
No bad considering how small these antennas are compared to the full sized 80/40 meter dipole and 22 ft diameter hexbeam.
There are a few occasions when the isotron is WAY down from the dipole or beam, several S units. I even noticed that some stations were a tie
sometimes and other times the dipole or beam won. I almost wore out my antenna switch doing all this. The only thing I can figure is perhaps
the isotrons have a different polarization than the dipoles/beam. The designer of the isotrons says they are omni directional, I rotated
them 90 degrees a couple of times and couldn't tell a difference.
Another unusual problem, I found that if the pole the antennas are mounted on was touching the metal of the roof's flashing at the edge of the roof it really messed up the SWR on 80 meters but the other bands were OK. I isolated the pole with a thick piece of plastic.
So, report complete, bottom line, they are gonna be better than nothing! Since I don't have room for a full sized dipole or even the hexbeam at the new place they will be OK. Now I just gotta get
the Home Owners Association to approve my unusual looking HDTV antennas! ha!
73, Dave KD5FX
Final SWR results:
Freq SWR Band
14350 1.00 20
14250 1.00
14150 1.00
7300 2.60 40
7270 2.00
7250 1.90
7200 1.30
7150 1.20
7070 2.00
3920 2.00 80
3880 1.50
3850 2.00
K4DJL Rating: 2008-04-01
80m and 40m...WoW!!! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
The Isotron antenna's take conventional thinking and throws it out the window. I have the 80m and 40m combo up @ 25' on a push-up pole. I constantly take to other's all over the U.S. Mr. Bilal has been very helpful with assisting me over the phone. The antenna's work, I am pleased with the performance, and my XYL is happy.

I will update for the 10m, 15m, qnd 20m later after I get the time to put them up.
WB7TVS Rating: 2008-02-24
160M Works Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The Isotron 160c has worked well for me the past couple of years. Took awhile to put together, but once up it has allow me to work the Top Band from a home with a postage stamp sized lot. Four to five hundred miles is pretty common. I've also worked a few stations over 1K miles. You do have to have a good antenna turner and will need to re-turn even if you move only a few Khz. Doesn't work like a full wave dipole, but when you don't have 252 feet to work with, the Isotron will get you on the air.
When I tell contacts that I'm using a Isotron, I often get "Those don't work," which is a bit silly when I'm talking to them on it.

73
Bruce
W4CMM Rating: 2007-12-20
Works - Tough to tune Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I have the 10M, 15M, and 20M Isotrons connected on one mast at 20ft. They do work, but were very hard to tune. My QTH is Florida. I have QSLs with them from Canada to Mexico to California to South America to Africa to the Carribean and one to Italy. I assume a dipole would give similar (maybe better) results, but I have no room for it. I do have a SteppIR on order, which will retire these Isotrons.

They take up very little space. If you cannot put up a dipole or better, try one of these. I intend to buy 80M and 160M Isotrons soon, since I have no room for directional antennas on these bands, and no room for any dipoles.

The instruction manuals are about as bad as they could be: I would guess they were written by the inventor without any testing/input from users. There is a reason that technical writers exist! The manuals need color photos. Each antenna should have its own different manual, since the antennas are slightly different. If I buy three antennas, I want three different manuals, not loose pages that can be used for any of the antennas - user to figure out which page goes with which antenna. The purpose of a manual is to instruct; not to show me that YOU know how to put together the antenna that YOU designed. Also, since these are a bear to tune, some hints (like I have written below and more)on tuning would be nice. Expected detailed specs would be nice also.

1. You absolutely must use an antenna analyzer (like MFJ). Don't think about setting it up without one as the instructions suggest. It would be hypothetically possible to tune it with a noise bridge, but I don't know anyone with enough patience to do it.
2. You really can mount three of them 120 degrees apart on the same mast and connect them with the enclosed ladder wire. The impedence will be off, but they will work. So, what looks like an obvious defect isn't a defect at all.
3. Ground them to the mast.
4. Tighten the counterpoise nuts moderately and erect the antennas. Secure most of the wires and antenna cable with plastic cable ties.
5. Use a non-conductive pole like to nudge the counterpoises into the centers of the bands. (I used a fiberglass tree trimmer. It has a saw blade at the end which nicely bit into the counterpoises without damaging them, so I could move the counterpoises either way with it - and not affect its resonance at the same time.
6. Make sure the mast does not electrically connect to anything but ground. (I have a tilting mast. I left the mast mounting bracket attached but loose so I could tilt the mast down to adjust the antennas as needed. I got them all to resonate in band and then went to eat lunch. When I came back I tightened all the screws went inside and tested the resonance again. It was all screwed up. So, it was either lunch, the time for lunch, or something else. In fact it was tightening the mast bracket to the mast. The bracket was attached to an aluminum fascia and it coupled with the antennas 10+ ft away. Some black electrical tape around the mast where it contacted the bracket made it work fine. Why not mention this peculiarity in the manual?)
7. Keep the Isotrons away from all other metal.
8. Finally, tighten the nuts on the counterpoises as tight as you can without breaking the things. Use plastic cable ties to keep everything from moving at all.

This is what I got when adjusted for band centers. My radio's tuner easily tunes these all for use on all of these bands, edge to edge. I think it is the best case for the Isotrons:

10M
28.000, SWR 2.2, Imp 90 Ohms
28.800 (resonant here), SWR 1.1, Imp 50 Ohms
29.700, SWR 3.0, Imp 100 Ohms

15M
21.000, SWR 2.5; Imp 60 Ohms
21.240 (resonant here), SWR 2.5, Imp 60 Ohms
21.450, SWR 2.5, Imp 80 Ohms

20M
14.000, SWR 2.2, 25 Ohms
14.220 (resonant here), SWR 1.5, Imp 30 Ohms
14.350, SWR 1.7, Imp 35 Ohms

The materials quality of these antennas is only fair and I would expect there lfe not to be very long. We will see! But at only $80 each they are not very expensive either.
My grades: Manual - 1, Construction quality - 3, Innovation - 5, Effectiveness - 3, Value - 4
K5TER Rating: 2007-11-02
No problems here Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Isotrons do what they are advertised to do. I bought used 80, 40 and 20 meter Isotrons and had no problem tuning any of them to very low SWR.

Do they outperform my 80-10 WINDOM which is at roughly the same height? No. But I don't think they are intended to do so. One wouldn't expect a hamstick to outperform the Windom either.

I think the Isotron is an excellent option for anyone who has limited space and/or needs to have a stealth installation. They can pass as TV antennas to the non-ham.

Have room for a dipole, windom or beam? Go with that. Have limited space, deed restrictions or need portability? Try an Isotron.

One reviewer said watch out for the glowing reviews -- well, remember that no product will stand up to unrealistic expectations. And Isotron does give good support if you have issues. (FYI - They aren't a "slam dunk" to assemble; could be most of the problems are improper assembly.)

By the way, I notice that their website isn't listed above; it's http://www.isotronantennas.com/
N8CGR Rating: 2007-10-24
Doesn't Work Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Advantage: Easy to build from the kit. Clean, uncluttered look. Responsive to phone call for technical assistance.
Disadvantage: Could never get it to tune. It sits in my garage gathering dust.

K1EAR Rating: 2007-09-04
decent results...but Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Have been using 6 m Isotron for about three years. It seems to slightly outperform both the folded-dipole that MFJ sells with its 9406 xcvr, and the various verticals I have used for DX. In any case, I have worked Europe and southern Mexico with about 7 watts ssb, so it seems to work after a fashion.
That said, feedline length seems to be critical with this type of antenna. Last time I installed, I could not get it to tune at all. By adding another 4 ft of feedline length, I got it to tune perfectly. I have noticed the same thing with Hamsticks sometimes; I think that feedline length is important with any kind of compromise or shortened antenna.
GEIIM Rating: 2007-08-28
You can do much better with a simple dipole Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I had the 80m model. Fact is that it worked in giving the SWR it promised but the other fact is that my 20m dipole on a tuner outperformed this antenna on 80m by a factor of 3-4 s-units. You really should try a simple wire dipole of any length before you settle on this antenna and fork out the money.
KB8ZYJ Rating: 2007-07-15
Who could want More!!! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I have had the 20 Meter isotron on the air since May 9 2007 have worked 40 states includin Hawawi and 8 countries have made 168 contacts SATISFIED. YOU BET a little sensitive to fine tuning but only too less than an hour and the results are out standing My Buddy 1\2 mile from me has a 6 element beam He an I work the same stations a lot of the times ther signal report on him is usally 1 S unit higher than mine not bad for what some people call a Mickey Mouse antenna I call it Fabulos I have it on a 20ft mast leaning up against the side of the house works Great. Peole can not belive it when I tell them i have worked Belgum Trinadad Jamacia Venusuala and the list goes on. Getting ready to put up a 5 Band Hustler vertical but will probably keep this work horse for 20 meters If it aint broke for goodness sake Dont fix it!!!!!
Larry
KB8ZYJ
NJ6F Rating: 2007-05-03
My Favorite Antennas & Run High Power Time Owned: more than 12 months.
For all of you pessimists, and died in the wool, big antenna lovers, we don’t want you to utilize or enjoy this antenna. Please stick with your monster ugly, big as the house lightning rods if it makes you feel better. Just like the big gas guzzler cars, there is a new norm / movement in town / Toyota Prius /Camry. Yes, smaller is better. I get the biggest kick using my 160, 75 and 40 meter versions with my pair of 8875 ceramic finals. You get the signal without all of the broad band noise, and yes they tune nicely across the band with a decent tuner. Mine are homebrew versions but I am making a point on the concept. They kick butt, and I get the biggest kick after….. I get the signal report, telling them I have an antenna only 1, 2 or 9 feet tall for those 3 bands. The gas guzzler guys have a hard time with small, quiet, efficient and high power for some reason. The 160 operates better just 3 feet above my metal fence. The 40 and 75 are parallel with a PL259 T connector and operate fine at 20 feet. Yes, these antennas in some instances will (sometimes) get out an S unit or two less than a G5RV on transmit only…., the fact remains they get out nice barefoot or with the option of full power and are LOW PROFILE and LOW NOISE, and when you paint these suckers sky blue, and throw a plastic bird seed holder on the bottom, they are known as bird houses. No threat, low profile, low altitude, no threat to anyone and the size/foot print of a satellite dish.
Don’t say low noise is low gain…. The signal is the same on the ground mounted Butternut or the full size 130’ G5RV but the broad band noise is worse on the other two mentioned, that is my point. It hears exceptionally well and allows you to get out with no problem. Yes, you can use the tuner across the band on all 3 of them. At the worst point on the 75 or 160 version which is on the other side of the phone band, using the tuner will work great and our signal will maybe be .5 to 1 unit down from the resonant point at worst on transmit. Mine on 100 Watts, with a 3:1 type stingy auto tuner tunes 3999-3900 with no problem, on 160, with resonant point at 1920, auto tunes again from 1955-1910 and on 40, across the entire phone band no problem, that is again with a 100 watt auto tuner. With the MT300 big tuner, no problem anywhere. I worked a UA0 on 75 with it along with Japan.
Remember the days before the smallest 100 watt multiband 160-440 Yaesu FT100-D when you weren’t a man unless you had a big box….some how meaning more performance….well we find ourselves here again with the big antenna versus small out of the box uniquely smaller antenna design. Yes I agree you obviously hear and work a different dimension of stations DX wise with a larger antenna, but who cares….they put their pants on the same way over there and probably have less time for a quality conversation.. Hey, when the band conditions are in, like some of the pessimists will say, you can load up a light bulb. I have a friend that loads up his metal fence for 6-75 and has success. To me it is the quality of the conversation and the utility factor of the antennas that give me satisfaction, not just some weird fascination with distance. When conditions are normal I will have a great time distance wise. Yes the big antenna guys will hang in there just a few more minutes more maybe, before the signals fade, but so what. My $40 investment blows away all the other arguments. Yes, I have beams, verticals, and wire antennas and plenty of land….for the hams that automatically say….you poor guy, you must not have enough land,bull!
By the way if you have severe noise… power line etc., just get a MFJ 1025 or 1026 signal enhancer which uses a secondary antenna to cancel the noise. It will take a 60 over noise level down to 0 with no distortion, and can also be used for bringing in two different polarity antennas for perhaps 6 meter local operation where deep polarization effects are evident etc. Enjoy the hobby and make new friends with your bird lover neighbors.