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Reviews For: PAR Electronics EF-SWL Antenna

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : PAR Electronics EF-SWL Antenna
Reviews: 45MSRP: 75
Description:
End Fed SWL antenna. 45' genuine #14 Poly coated Flex Weave, wideband binocular transformer. Includes field selectable grounding options. See Monitoring Times 9/03 issue for full review.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.LnRprecision.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00455
PHILNIC99 Rating: 2007-11-08
Great Antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Use the antenna with a ground rod in sloper configuration in my back garden; the advice and response from Dale has been first class (even in the face of jury-duty!).
Connected to my ETON E1 and regularly listening to civil aircraft over Canada, North Russia and the Caribbean; sensitivity is superb and have cast aside both my fixed long wire and its ATU.
Thanks again Dale...
VE6NU Rating: 2007-09-14
EF-SWL Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I am using the Buternut HF-2V 40/80 antenna. However, that baby is very noisy on receive,
I needed something for receive; went ahead ordered the EF-SWL from Par Electronics and wow, now I can receive on the low bands.
BTW, I emailed Dale a few times, his response was received within a hour. Darn good service!

Go and get one.

Frank VE6NU

K6HJM Rating: 2007-05-01
Great antenna and service Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Using the EF-SWL with a Yaesu FGR-7...bought the radio on a whim and needed a broad range receiving antenna. Put up the EF-SWL (easy to do and almost invisible), but at first was not sure I liked it. So I emailed Dale and asked a few questions..he replied promptly with some good ideas.

Later I decided to make some resistance measurements and found a dead short between the wire antenna connection and the coax ground connection. Email back to Dale...and he was nice enough to kindly say that there was a matching transformer inside the connector box at the end of the antenna. In other words...it is working correctly since the DC resistance should be zero. I pretended that I knew this all the time...just being sure (he did not laugh at me).

Buy one and enjoy...and feel good that there is a real person (Dale) to help.
N6NKN Rating: 2007-04-23
Superior SWL Antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I already use other Par Electronics antennas in my ham radio activities. This antenna exhibits the same high quality of workmanship as Dale's other antennas. I installed it as a sloper with the apex at 40' and the feed end a few feet off the ground and connected the electrical ground to a cold water pipe with a short piece of copper foil. It is a quieter antenna then my trap diplole SW antenna and also seems to have about two S-units improvement in signal strength. End-fed antennas have the distinct advantage of ease of installation as compared to a center fed antenna. I'm sure I'll get many years of trouble free service from this antenna, the parts used are of top quality.

If you want a trouble free, high quality, excellent performing SWL antenna for a very reasonable price, I do not believe you can do better then a Par Electronics EF-SWL.

Tell Dale N6NKN sent you.
AA2KC Rating: 2007-04-19
Worth every penny ! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
After reading many online reviews, I promptly ordered this antenna. I set it up as an inverted L with five feet vertical and the remaining forty feet horizontal at eight feet above ground. The antenna was then grounded to the outside faucet.
I guess all I can say is "WOW". Like other users, I was surprised at the countless signals received. Noise was greatly reduced and it really compliments the RX320D. Size, low visibility, and performance make this a winner.
BODEN Rating: 2007-04-13
Quiet & powerful Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Add my five-star rating to the others. The PAR EF-SWL is a fantastic multi-band reception antenna for smaller properties like mine. I erected mine atop a flat roof running directly north-south in a slight sloper configuration. From drilling holes through the wall to attaching coax and securing/painting the masts took about 6 hours, working solo. My old Halli S-40 receiver came alive with all the new stations and catches on the SW bands, works well with my portables too, and it is a very quiet antenna with great SNR.
W2DIP Rating: 2006-11-16
Wow - so many stations - so little time Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I will make this short and sweet. I had used two other antennas to listen to short wave. The Par arrived last night. Despite all the good setup advice from Dale at Par, I ignored it all and simply took the antenna out of the box and ran it down my hallway and up and over a few doors into my bedroom. No grounding or anything. This was supposed to be just a quick test. I was not prepared for the number of stations that came blasting into my radio. I was up until 1:30 AM adding them to my list of favorites but could only get to a few bands. Too many stations to research for one evening.

Before I only picked up the normal powerful stations and a few of the weaker ones. Now it seems that I get them all. In fact, I have to narrow my filter to separate them all. I know it has only been one night worth of experience but WOW! I was not aware that there were that many SW stations out there. I also want to say that I also use Par's End Fedz 6 Meter antenna which I simply toss over the window valance. Make more contacts with it than I did with my other antennas plus it is very portable. Just roll it up and take it with you. No knobs to turn, no coils to install or antennas lenghts to adjust. Just toss it somewhere and it works. I imagine if I follow Par's instructions it would even be better but being able to talk over a hundred miles regularly with a ten watt rig using an antenna drapped over a window is good enough for me.
PD0POM Rating: 2006-09-12
I gave it just a try, but was very surprised! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Tried several configurations this weekend.
Used my old Drake 2B and Yaesu 7700
> Best results were in the original setup as i received it. (4 days to the
> Netherlands!)
Making the wire longer doesn't have much influence.
> Received early this morning AM USA stations on 3880 and 3885.
I 'm impressed how it works on 20 mtrs.
> Even 180 mtrs went very well, i even received stations my friend
> couldn't hear while they were burried in the noise.
> Outperforms my MLB from RF systems with 20mtr wire, picks up far less
> noise.
> Compared signals with a friend of mine who has an inverted dipole, wire
> antenna of 135 feet and a horizontal dipole.
> What he received i received too.
> Very happy with the EF-SWL!!!!
> Will certainly recommend it.
Ideal antenna for small lots.

>
CARROTDOOR Rating: 2006-05-21
Excellant Product Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
My equipment consists of an Icom IC-R75 and Eton E1XM receivers, my antennas are a 55 foot wire with balun, my homebuilt active loop and the EF-SWL. I am using an LDG Electronics DTS-6 antenna switch which allows for easy comparison and selection of antennas for best reception/readability. I have a dedicated proper earthing for the antennas.
Due to obsticles in my backyard, I had to mount the EF-SWL horizontal and is strung north/south. This antenna from PAR Electronics is performing extremely well indeed. My home built copper tubing active loop antenna has always been the best with the lowest noise and highest readability because it is remotely tuned and rotatable and covers from 2.3 to 17.9 MHz. However, even my loop antenna has been put into second place during some occasions!
Trying to receive WRMI Miami in the 31 metre band always give's a weak signal here on the east coast of Australia however, the EF-SWL is now giving me readable signals, low noise with S-3 to S-5, my loop allowed me to hear that there was a signal there but was unreadable, the 55 foot wire with balun could not even hear a signal, it just gave S-5 of noise!
The EF-SWL sometimes give's slightly lower signal strength readings compared to the other two antennas, but, on more occasions than not it delivers lower noise and better readability.
I love it and would recommend it to anyone, thanks Dale and PAR Electronics who shipped it from the US to Australia very quickly and it comes with excellant installation instructions!
Michael Stevenson, Port Macquarie, NSW, Australia.
KB1JHF Rating: 2006-01-26
Doesn't get any better than this! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
About 2 months ago, I decided to return to a hobby that, along with ham radio, has given me much pleasure over the years, that being Short Wave Listening.

I had read about Dale's antenna and decided to give it a try. I must admit that I wondered if it would beat my basic longwire setup. When the antenna arrived, we had a bit of warm weather so my son and I configured it for the sloper diagram and put it up. Amazingly simple and the process was made even easier thanks to the quality construction of this antenna. No snarls, tangles, etc.

What an incredible surprise! Low noise, unbelievably high quality construction and instructions that made sense! I gained about a 3 S unit increase over the longwire. Couple that increase with the low noise of this antenna and my SWL listening is now a truly a new listening experience.

Don't hesitate on this one. If you really want to hear what's out there on the short wave bands, this is the best antenna on the market.