| N0TLD |
Rating:  |
2017-12-17 | |
| Pathetic. |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Seriously. Pathetic.
The other reviews explain it better than I can, but I just need to add that the handful of folks who have convinced themselves this is the real deal are akin to flat earthers. It's almost wilfull ignorance, buying into the narcissistic ramblings of the silly thing's creators. The laws of physics haven't changed and can't be changed no matter how much those bonehead 'inventors' scream otherwise.
Bottom line, load of garbage. |
|
| KC0EKQ |
Rating: |
2017-03-04 | |
| Stunningly bad. |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
A friend of mine bought a 20 mtr version of this silly antenna in 2013, and it sat unused for some years while he was away from the country doing missionary work.
Last week he brought it to my shack and we put it through its paces, going from the directions, the manual, and our own longtime experience with radio and antennas.
I'd already known of the 'controversial' nature of this antenna for a while, but I just thought on the outside chance it would do more than simply use the feedline, it might be worth finding out.
I could go into all of the tests and paces we performed, but let me sum up by saying this antenna is not an antenna but a dummy load, and a poor one at that.
I have no idea what is controversial about it, because it's so blatantly, so obviously not a real antenna.
If you visit their website (go searching, I refuse to link to them) you will read a massive load of poorly translated garbage from a Russian engineer and the narcissistic ramblings of one Ted H.
These two geniuses are so full of themselves that they actually claim to have the proof in documentation of the validity of the antenna, and they are 'saving the documents to be used in the future by scholarly magazines', as if they know they're sitting on some earth-shattering discovery previously unknown to humankind.
It's impossible to comprehend the gibberish in the Russian genius's ramblings, as it is so poorly written and translated that it is as nonsensical as the antenna itself.
There is no 'mental wall' about antenna and radio physics, unless that wall is REALITY, in which case the EH true believers are on the absurdly wrong side of the fence.
It's remarkable how narcissistic the site is, and utter b.s. for an antenna. If you put any kind of choke on it, it stops working; what does that tell you about whether the feedline is the radiating element, not the 'antenna' nonsense atop it?
Like a previous reviewer, we swapped a resistor in for the antenna and got actual performance far beyond anything we could experience with the EH.
As well, we couldn't get it to tune on 20 mtrs, but it tuned around 15500kHz. Just wrong.
It's remarkable how easily morons can get away with fleecing gullible ham ops, who ought to be FAR more intelligent and discerning about basic antenna physics and REALITY than this kind of stupidity.
If anyone tells you to open your mind or remove your mental block about ANY claim that goes against fundamental principles of a given subject, be wary at least, if not utterly dismissive.
This is charlatanism and snake oil, pure and simple.
This 'antenna' is to radio what roasted pork is to moonlight.
Exactly. |
|
| G1HBE |
Rating:  |
2011-01-29 | |
| Rip-off |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I've given this antenna one point as it did work, but only by using your feeder as a radiator. A friend of mine decided to get one of these as he has very little technical ability and no space for a conventional antenna.
When it arrived, he asked me to help him set it up. This we did and we carefully tuned it for a low SWR. However, it seemed rather 'dead' on receive and we made no contacts. I told him it was basically snake-oil, and to prove it I de-tuned it to produce a poor SWR. Up came the signals (and local hash!) and we made contacts. Putting it back to a perfect match killed it again. Proof (if you need it) that the actual antenna does almost nothing, it's all from the radiating feeder.
He still didn't like to admit he had been fooled, so I removed the antenna completely and fitted a 25 watt, 150-ohm resistor in its place....guess what, contacts from the radiating feeder! I told my friend to plant the EH in his garden as a reminder.... |
|
| G7TOK |
Rating: |
2010-02-08 | |
| Junk |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Essentially, a con job, like the Crossed-field before it.
I was going to compare it to the Partridge Joystick antenna, but that would be unfair to the Joystick.
It doesn't work, the co-ax radiates.
If you choke the co-ax it fails totally, you can spend the next 20 years changing the antenna dimensions, but it's still going to be the co-ax that radiates.
More ominously, the website is down yet Martin-Lynch in the U.K is still selling this P.T. Barnum affair, a dreadful state of affairs. |
|
| GI0ZGB |
Rating: |
2008-02-05 | |
| Wet String |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Well they work, about as well as wet string!
Great dimensions for vertical real estate and easy to install, good build quality!
Even compared to "dummy load" verticals they do not perform satisfactorily, the humble dipole will outclass it every time! Square inverse law seems to be applicable here, so unless some way can be found to circumvent this limiting factor, it seems to me that it is a "no other option" purchase! A lot of hams have staked their reputations on making this antenna work, in that I wish them success, but for now it's a thumbs down for the EH concept! |
|
| EI6IZ |
Rating: |
2007-03-02 | |
| Snakeoil |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
A member of our local club fell for this piece of snake oil marketing and was less than impressed with the on air results. I asked him to bring it around to my QTH for testing.
We set it up as suggested, it worked to some extent by virtue of the feeder radiating. Could we have worked 'everything we could hear?' Probably but this antenna does not hear much so this is a pretty meaningless assessment of it's abilities
To see how 'well' it worked without the feeder being part of the antenna system we fitted a number of ferrite chokes at the base of the antenna, this made the antenna much harder to tune (no surprises there) and when we did get it tuned we set fire to it with 100W which tells me all I need to know about where the power goes if it can't couple onto the feeder.
There are any number of comprise antennas that will work better than this piece of snake oil.
Spend just 10% of the price of this piece of junk on an antenna book such as HF Antennas For All Locations by Les Moxon G6XN. The end results will be far better no matter what limitations your location presents you with
73
|
|
| Arbo Siebesma |
Rating: |
2006-04-29 | |
| Yes it works, see website! |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I am very pleased with the results of the 40 and 80 mtr. EH-Antenna's I use.
Offcourse I was sceptic at first, but I tried
and worked some real nice DX with it.
On my website you can read about my practicall experiences with these antenna's and why they work for me. On the site you can read, see some pictures and video footage of my solutions.
www.solcon.nl/arbosiebesma
Good luck with your choice.
|
|
| LU1HQV |
Rating: |
2004-10-10 | |
| hard to work! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I bought and sleep for months.. Finally I finish and install..
No good, no bad.. is same like a half wave dipole; if you don't put an exact coaxil, you have a very higth hf energy reflejed!!!
Install higth and free!! I mean.. it's a lot of work for very poor final result..
Only good is very very stealth..
best regard
jose
lu1hqv |
|
| W9RPE |
Rating: |
2004-09-04 | |
| Pathetic Product and BS Customer Service |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I posted this a while back regardin a 17m backpack EH kit I bought...And the follow up!
"I bought the 17m version for 57.95 with shipping, and had it within a week. The plans were marked for the 17m version, but it tunes only on 20m, and nowhere near 17. I had to buy more magnet wire to re-build, which I did three times before I relized it worked on 20 meters! I have emailed George at EH three times since May 15 for assistance and he has not replied and the emails have not bounced. Now their web site is down. Also, except for the two tunable caps(cheapies) I could have purchased all the parts at the local hardware store for $5. Never again! "
Now a follow up after an absolutly worthless email conversation with Ted Hart. Although I bought this antenna from "George" who was no longer affiliated with EH, Ted was insistent that I deal with George. Yes..the person who was no longer affiliated with EH and whose EH email address was no longer valid. After subsequent communications with Mr. Hart offering absolutly no solutions to the problems(except continually telling me to contact George) I was encountering with his product, he actually told me to snail mail George and let me know what he said. I was obviously in the middle of a personal battle between these two. These folks are pathetic. Don't waste your time or money on one of these cheap PVC antennas. There is no service after the sale. And..the antenna works horribly on 20m. Better to use a coat hanger on a stick.
Ron |
|
| DB1JAW |
Rating: |
2004-07-31 | |
| it really works ! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
received my 20 mtr version of the EH-antenna some weeks ago and would like to share the following information/results with you.
statement 1:
small antennas like the electrial and magnetic field EH-antenna can´t work wonders !
but before you read the following pse try to brake your mental wall about common antenna layouts and requirements - the EH-antenna is a unique design with its own special electrical rules
statement 2:
I have been testing various small antennas (monopol, SteppIR dipole, magnetic loop, etc) and try to take an objective view to my testing of the EH-Cobra version for 20 mtr.
All given information is VALID FOR THE 20 MTR. VERSION ONLY and mine has been delivered by arno elettronica. (http://eheuroantenna.com)
a) the accompanying manual is easy to read and in excellent English (not always the case if you order technical items from Italy)
b) reading the manual is really required and it will help to avoid some things which could mismatch the complete setup !
c) the coax feedline should be RG213 or RG8 with a lenght of 10.5 mtr (34.45 ft) x N, where N should be 2, 3, 4, etc
d) coax should go straight down from the feedpoint for at least 4 mtr (13 ft) to avoid pickung up to much reflected hf, the nearby HF field is stronger than the one of a magnetic loop !
e) do not use any common mode or coax-cable coil in the feedline, which would mismatch the complete layout as the shield of the coax is picking up extremly high hf - a common situation with any combined electrical/magnetic field antenna
e) place the antenna as high and free as possible, avoid any nearby metal such as crossing wires (dipole) in low distance
e) adjustment of center frequency can be established by slightly moving the external cupper sleeve. small steps are required ! higher the sleeve will higher the frequeny, lower will result in opposite. attn: some millimeters will do and you have to be careful to avoid tuning outside the amateur portion or suddenly loosing resonance.
f) if you like to use the antenna on the complete band, onced tuned to center frequency, it is required to use an antenna tuner ! the antenna is 1:1 on center frequency and increases to 2:1 VSWR to the edges of the band.
COMPARISION WITH HALFWAVE DIPOLE, BOTH ANTENNAS IN SAME HIGHT, 12 mtr (39.5 ft) above ground.
during direct comparision with stations in Europe as well as from overseas, I got similar signal reports ! I never told the other stations which antenna was currently used and changed setup a couple of times for concrete comparison. rx signal with the EH antenna approx. 6-12 db lower on the scale BUT often been in better readability (even in preferential direction of the dipole) due to lower noise level.
I am really astonished how great this small antenna works. taking into account the very small size of just 90 cm (2,95 ft) x 8 cm (0,26 ft) (hight/diameter) it delivered excellent results ! radiation pattern is optimized for medium and dx signals, efficiency > 92 % ! weight just 1,5 Kg (3,3 lbs)
The EH-antenna should not be seen as just a compromise solution, it really competes with a dipole in same hight ! this could be a real solution for people living in areas with antenna restrictions or those who would like to have a small but fully functional antenna for travels or portable activity.
already built a pedant for 17 mtr and it also works as described above.
in conclusion let me add the follwoing: those with the required space for a TH6 or other large aerial may just have a smile reading the above review ....
be sure next time you hear me on shortwave it´ll be an EH antenna again and just using 10 watt with the IC-703 .... K1QS and others surely do not trust me while giving setup description on air, boys it is not always required to run legal power and large antenna to work long distance ..... even so bandconditions are currently not the best as we all know.
regards, Mike - DB1JAW (a dedicated qrp user)
|
|
