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Reviews For: WIMO GPM-1500 Multiband

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : WIMO GPM-1500 Multiband
Reviews: 5MSRP: 250.-
Description:
Multiband Vertical for 1,8... 30 MHz,i have this antenna installed two weeks now and it working great. Very easy to assemble, it takes 20 minutes. Working for me on 20m and 10m whitout tuner, on all other bands the inbuild autotuner from my Kenwood TS-570DG can match it to a good swr. in my place it is very difficult to use longwire antennas and this is the best way for me to use the lower band. Wimo doing a good job with this antenna.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.wimo.de/verteiler-e.htm?s3134d_e.htm
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
1553.6
OH1LA Rating: 2024-08-30
It works low band too Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Yes, I am surprised if someone says that this antenna does not allow connections on the 160, 80, 60 or 40m band. Yes, you can keep in touch with all those bands. I have a Yaesu FT-710 (100W)+Palstar AT2K tuner, It tunes the antenna 160-10m OK. Many DX stations on 40m and also one 60m 9X5 (Rwanda). I have also been able to work the best dx-peditions with other bands.
SM6TBE Rating: 2023-07-16
Needs better quality check by WIMO Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This antenna needs quality check, 3 bottom sections had missing holes for screws. The fitting for mast needs to be redesigned. Metal quality is good, but WIMO needs to have better quality check. I could not recommend this antenna. Buy something better.
YO3IYM Rating: 2022-05-12
YO3IYM Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Aceasta antena am cumparat-o pe data de 03.05,2022 nu ma asteptam sa functioneze oooau dar surpriza merge la DX neasteptat de bine inca nu am reusit sa ma joc cu ea destul de mult dar inceputul este ooau datorita spatiului mic am hotarat sa iau aceasta antena de la banda de 17m pana la banda de 10m cu putere mica de max 25W am avut reflectate de max -2.0 fara antena tuner la cresterea puteri nici una din benzi nu functioneaza fara antena tuner antena a fost ridicata de la pamant cam 3 metri .In FT8 benzile de sus am avut legaturi cu indicativele astea si am fost auzit cu:CU3EM R-4 PY2PWL R-08 SM7VGY +02 DH5BM +05 ZP9MCE R-13 A71AE R+02 BW2/JR1RIW +09 sunt mult mai multe dar cam atat am pus aici 73
LX1LH Rating: 2007-07-11
More than just a compromise Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I use the antenna for my home station mounted on a 6m Steel (heavy gaspipe) tube without any counterpoises or radials. In a valley and surounded by buildings the conditions to work are not ideal. I use always a Roller Inductor Tuner.
Experiences so far: It works nice with up to 200W from 10m to 30m (quite some dx !!), on 40m it works but thats just it, 80m or 160m is not operational. On 6m it works - not ideal - but it works (on condx up everything goes on six (my DXCC is Spain so far)).
Resume: A nice antenna if you cannot put some wires or do not have the budget for a tower/beam, really nice for SWL & BC, offers fair 6m support and 10m to 40m, a bit noisy but that is the price for the frequency range. Survived three heavy storms so far:
Value for the money !
DL3LED Rating: 2003-11-19
Limited performance but does not attract attention Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought this antenna because I'm travelling to northern Sweden and Norway to enjoy the midnight sun once in a year. The landscape in this region happens to have all but one thing: large trees to put wires on [what else are trees good for? :-)], and staying on small camping places or parking lots for a night requires antennas that to not attract too much attention.

When driving or staying for a short time only I used my FT-100D with the ATAS-100 screwdriver antenna (with quite remarkable results on all bands above 30 m, given that this antenna is that short and thus very inconspicuous).
When staying a little bit longer I wanted to have an antenna with more gain than the ATAS-100 and which enables me to work 40 meters and below as well [as I had to find out, quite pointless when the sun is shining day and night...], so last year I purchased the GPM-1500.

The GPM-1500 requires (!) some counterpoise, but any peace of metal mast or coax shield will do, if it is long enough (relative to the wave length, of course). I mounted the antenna on a small aluminium mast that I could extend as much as the wind (and the camping neighbors) allowed without having to use guy wires. The antenna itself is nearly 7 meters long and will not be very "vertical" when there is some wind around, but this doesn't affect its performance, of course [better use some nylon guy wires when mounting the antenna permanently].

When operating on and above 20 mtrs extending the mast a couple of meters is sufficient to get a good match with a tuner. This antenna requires (!) a tuner! I used an MFJ tuner that would have been capable to compensate even for "bad" swr like that of long wires, but tried to avoid this to reduce rfi/tvi (the FT-100D is very sensitive if there is too much rf around, and I don't like to burn my fingers when touching the paddles, hi). Depending on your counterpoise a simple (e. g. trx-builtin) tuner *may* do, but better don't count on it.

When operating lower bands I had to extend the mast a few meters more, and if there is no more mast available it's also possible to connect a piece of wire and put it on the ground (try at least 10 meters; more, if you want to work lower bands).

Having the ATAS-100 still mounted on the car enabled me to compare both antennas (yes, I know there is a chance that both antennas interact if both are close to another). Results (not too surprising): above 20 meters ATAS-100 outperformed the GPM-1500 (mostly because of less noise when using the ATAS - resonance of a motor controlled screwdriver is much sharper that that of a broadband antenna!), on 20 and 30 meters GPM-1500 was a little bit stronger, and on 40 meters the ATAS-100 made my 100 W transceiver a qrp station (however, given its size, still not a bad result). I didn't compare the GPM-1500 on the lower bands (the ATAS doesn't work there).

Mounting and unmounting the GPM-1500 just takes a few minutes, so it is possible to use it for portable operation. But *do* have some spare screws available, they tend to fall down and you don't want to search them in the high grass :-). After some time of use one of the screw hole wore out a little bit.

General impression: you wouldn't consider buying this antenna if you could afford the space for dipoles, long wires, or other more complex verticals. But if you are seeking an antenna that includes some low bands and doesn't attract too much attention this one might be for you.

I sold mine and used an automatic tuner and a random piece of wire wound around a 10 mtr fishing whip this year. A little bit tricky to find a good wire length, but quite good results, and few if any camping visitors recognized this strange setup as being an antenna [no mast needed, and who cares about a fishing whip that leans agains your car if the sea is only a few meters away? :-)].
I wouldn't do this at home, however, because of possible rfi/tvi...

[Sorry, I'm not a native speaker of English, as you might have found out :-)]