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Reviews For: Yaesu YA-30 Folded Dipole

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Yaesu YA-30 Folded Dipole
Reviews: 17MSRP: 269.00
Description:
This is a Broadband Folded Di-Pole, similar to the B&W folded Di-Poles. The difference being size and construction I believe. The wire portion is a coated wire, that seems to be a slightly larger gauge than the B&W and the fit and finish seem a bit better.
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00174.5
KX0N Rating: 2023-03-25
Excellent antenna! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I picked this up at a hamfest a little over a year ago. It was out of the package but never used. It was still factory rolled up. I put it up the best I could which ended up only being about 30 feet up between a couple trees with the center over my back porch area. So far I am amazed at this thing. It just simply works. It's nice and quiet compared to my verticals and I have zero problems getting out to most stations with a barefoot 100 watts. It's doing well in what I suppose is NVIS mode as well down at 75/80 with clear comms to stations within 50-200 miles out down to 50 watts or less.
G3RKF Rating: 2022-09-24
Excellent solution in loft. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Use the B-Square Eng 110ft up at 70ft as W2/G3RKF. Excellent performance with IC735 from 10m to 80m. Like dx chasing and with HRD and cluster feed I'm onto a new entity very quickly.
In England don't have large garden so had trap dipoles plus WARC bands in loft for 10m to 80m. Regular visits tweaking lengths for cw or ssb was a pain.
B-Square doesn't come with insulated wire so YA-30 the obvious choice. Taken 2 days to shoehorn it in! Needed several extra spacers to maintain shape.
Plenty of RBN spots and some qso's confirm I'm getting out.
Great vswr values of course and it's so much quieter. I've lost 3 S points of noise on 40m.
I'm awarding the YA-30 a five. It seems expensive, but so are all the T2FD's. Hard to imagine what else could get me on 9 bands in an instant, with 200w from trusty FT1000mpV without any of the neighbors having a clue. Stealth rules!
Update 2022. Replaced the terminating resistor with inductors. Still a decent vswr and better QSOs on the low bands. Now using an FTdx10 barefoot - great combination.
VK4LL Rating: 2019-03-03
Great low noise small antenna Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Great in a small yard. Have installed as inverted V with centre up at 11m sloping down to 2m above ground. Compared to a vertical (R7000) at the same hight, the Rx noise is about 10-20dB lower. TX seems to be equal. SWR is 1:1 up to 30m, then climbs slightly up to 2:1 on 15m, then drops to 1.5:1 on 10m and up again at 2.5:1 on 6m. Only antenna I can use at this QTH due to the high electrical noise level. Have tried Mag Loop (MFJ) but this ant is far better. Only use with IC7300 100W. Can highly recommend this if space and noise is a problem. Have modified the IC7300 to have separate RX ant input (Inrad mod kit) and will install a vertical for TX only. Keep you posted. VY73 de VK4LL
KB6HRT Rating: 2017-06-27
Very HAPPY! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Tried many antennas for 160m, my lot is small, 160m a challenge to get something that works, some of boys on 160m said try using a receive only antenna, am now getting the results I was hoping for.
Use a 160m resonant vertical plus 1500w for transmit, receiving mostly in Gray Line. Brought, built, an tried many different antennas with so so results, until I came across the Yaesu YA-30 Folded Dipole, after installing it at 30' to the APEX an 18' on the ends, it WORKS 160-10m on receive GREAT in its location. Its used as a receive only antenna, down some from the G5RV or a dipole
but the antenna hears wonderfully it hears better than my Double Bozzoka on 75m a lot of the better than time my G5RV, that doing something because both of these antennas hear well, have a Great little 20-6m beam and it give it a run for the money on 20m. The SWR is very low on all bands it covers, it done not have as much gain as a dipole, but if the weak signal your trying hear
is a little to weak, use the preamp on the radio it boost the signal not noise with this antenna, for what I was looking for this antenna fills my needs, very HAPPY!
N2CVS Rating: 2017-05-15
for JT65/JT9 max power is 25 WATTS on the average. Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
The specifications sheet says for Data 75 watts for 5 minutes on and 25 minutes off.
This calculates to 12.5 watts average.

JT65 at 1 Watt is about 50 seconds on (without CW ID) 10 seconds off for transmit, and 60 seconds off for receive.
This duty cycle of 5/12.

so 12.5 / (5/12) = 30 watts.

So you can transmit at 30 watts.

This is for continuous one transmit cycle followed by one receive cycle.

I didn't realize this and it is a big concern for me.

I should have done the math.
PY3HAM Rating: 2013-01-18
Don't like Time Owned: more than 12 months.
First of all, I hope you all excuse my poor english!
Well... I purchased a YA-30 some years ago, and I had no problems of any kind with TVI, SWR, etc. I decided to install it as Inverted "V", but I bacame sooooo frustrated with it, mainly with the poor TX. Almost all the HAMs I did a QSO told me that my signal were really weak... far away that any dipole. Few days later I decided to remove it and, this way, I keep it just "resting" for almost 10 years in my garage, hihihi... My experience was not good, indeed! 73's
AG1M Rating: 2012-11-29
Recommended! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased a Yaesu YA-30 a few years ago for my home station after some positive experience using a BW-90 in a Federal Government provided HF Emergency installation. Hadn't heard anyone talk about the YA-30 and hadn't seen any reviews.

My QTH is 80'x80' city lot and occupied primarily by a 2-story house and 2 car garage. The YA-30 fit nicely along the 80' west fence line in a slight inverted V - apex on at 31' and ends at 21' . All masts were heavy duty push-up fiberglass. I adapted a center support bracket from a BW-90 bracket.

Using the YA-30 with my Yaesu FTD-897-D and attached LDG AT897 tuner, it was a good match as advertised. Performance of the YA-30 was better than expected. I haven't used my radialed 6BTV since.
My borrowed 90 ft. BW-90 was not only a pain to mount, but did not match or work as well as the YA-30.

The YA-30 wire is flexible 10 AWG with a durable outer insulation. It held up with storm-force winds and multiple snow storms.

As expected, the YA-30 didn't work NVIS as well as my single band NVIS optimized wire antennas on 40 or 80 Meters. Nor did it perform aw well on 40M DX as my 144' wire loop.

As for T2FD antennas often being characterized as 'Dummy Loads", don't believe it. All antennas present a compromise.

For multi-band HF with a single antenna on a city lot, I'd take the YA-30 over most alternatives.
KD6SX Rating: 2012-03-05
Very Pleased Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I am very pleased with this antenna. I have it suspended from my tower with the apex at 40 feet and the ends at about 20 feet. The SWR is very low on all bands with the highest being 1.4:1 on 17 meters. I don't have to use the internal antenna tuner in my radio on any of the bands. The results on 40 through 10 meters have been excellent. It does an adequate job on 80 meters--not quite as good as my old half-wave dipole but this antenna's noise level is so low on 80 meters that I don't mind the decreased output. It's a trade-off that I can live with. The antenna gets me on the air on 160 meters but that's about it--nothing to brag about.

The antenna does what I wanted it to do. I am not a DXer and am not into contesting. I wanted an antenna that could get me on all the HF bands with a low SWR and which would do an adequate job on all bands. For me, the convenience is worth the compromises inherent in the broadband design.

73,
George
KD6SX
KD7XH Rating: 2012-03-03
Great and Rugged too! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I installed the Ya-30 antenna a year and half ago and after a month use I was hit with a micro burst wind storm that ripped off the 56 foot awning from the house, Panels flew over the roof of the house and some of the panels (3X12 foot) hit the antenna and bent the mast in half! The YA-30 survived with only one of the spreaders broken. After repairing the bent mast and replacing the spreader the antenna works great. Better than a 80 meter dipole at the same height ( 30 feet) fed with ladder line. The YA-30's performance drops off on 80 and 160 meters as it is only 82 feet long. This a very good antenna for 40 to 10 meter bands with no gaps at low heights below 1/2 wavelength. The low noise on receive is a great advantage communicating with Russia and Cuba while in Maricopa. Arizona. A note to keep the spreader from falling off is to tie each end to the wire with a twist tie from a loaf of bread to secure the snap connection where the spreader snaps onto the wire ( 12 total twist ties needed).
KD7BWB Rating: 2010-12-22
Big Improvement! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
The Yaesu YA-30 antenna replaced a End-Fed Zepp cut for 75-meters, mounted on the same mounts as the Zepp. And it is more/less horizontal. I opened the water-sealed terminator case to see what was in it. It appears to be a series/parallel array of about 15-watts, with a total resistance of about 500-ohms. The balun seems to be at 450-ohms, which yields the final 50-ohm impedance.

YA-30 is at 24-feet altitude (same as the Zepp), and now yields an average 9-db more gain (vs the Zepp) on most bands, and it doesn't seem to matter whether I'm doing NVIS or distance. Antenna has been very quiet! End-Fed Zepp gave me a constant S-7 to S-9 noise level, YA-30 noise level is usually around S-2!

SWR is almost flat on all bands, rising to 2:1 at 1.8-Mhz, and to 2.5:1 at 54-Mhz (tested with my Yaesu FT-450).

When propagation permits, I often talk to people from 100-miles to both coasts from Arizona. Usual radio is a Drake TR-4, tuneup at 200-watts has proved no problem whatever.

I am very happy with this antenna, and intend to use it until I have a need for an amp . While your mileage may vary, mine has proved quite good for an antenna everybody told me to stay away from because it would prove to be a dummy load. I was told this (relayed) from a guy that could not hear my End-Fed Zepp, and is still complaining at me directly because now he can hear me. You just can't convince some people.

The YA-30 has sustained serious bad weather, and stays put together (that is after I used some glue-putty on the separation braces). No sign of of wear and tear.

For folks that absolutely need a short wire antenna, that covers the entire shortwave spectrum, yields good gain and low noise, and the user does not need more than 150-200 watts:

YOU HAVE FOUND YOUR NEXT ANTENNA.