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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
ROSCOE Rating: 2005-10-26
Just what the doctor ordered! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Circumstances required me to move from a large house, to a townhome with antenna restrictions. I took the antenna farm down from my house, and I plotted how I would get the antennas set-up in a lofty but limited space attic. The VHF-UHF Discone was installed, and it is performing quite well with my scanners. I used a Firestick indoor 11 meter antenna, which I located over existing electrical conduit to improve the ground-plane. That worked well, and with some tweaking, I got the SWR down to 1.75:1. AS the attic is 16' long at the peak, I opted for a R.F. Systems Mini Windom all band dipole, which just happened to be 16' long. This shortwave antenna was a total bust, and my JRC NRD-535D looked at me and said,"What did I ever do to You"? At the old house I had been using a PAR Electronics EF-SWL, which actually outperformed my Antenna Specialists 66.5' sloper! I had the EF-SWL up on the roof of the old house for two years, and to my surprise, it still looked like the day it came out of the box. I e-mailed Dale Parfitt for his suggestions as to how to configure the antenna, in the limited space I had available. He got back to me the next day with his suggestions, and said above all I should attempt to mount the transformer as close to my cold water pipe ground as possible. The hot water tank is on the second floor, and the cold water pipe was just below the attic floor, so I only had to run 3' of #8 stranded wire to hook the ground to the transformer. I fashioned the 45' antenna into a combination Inverted V, and a Sloper,to make it fit. After experementing,I grounded the #2 post of the transformer, with the shorting wire removed from post #1. Needless to say, the EF-SWL once again saved the day, and my SWLing is back in business. Another e-mail to Dale, discussing my success, was once again followed up with a quick reply from him. This was not the first occasion I needed to e-mail him, and he got back to me right away that time also. This type of customer service is rare in this day and age, and it does not go unnoticed by Dale's customers. My advice is try this antenna, and you'll not be disappointed by it's performance and craftmanship. 73's and Good DXing to you. Gary
DENDEN Rating: 2005-06-29
Great Signal / Low Noise Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I only SWL. Until I installed this new antenna, I was using a random wire in an inverted L up a tree about 50'. The wire ran into the basement then up to the radio another 35'.
After reading several product reviews, I called to order this antenna and Dale Parfitt personally handled the call and 2 more since buying. It was among the best customer service I have ever seen.
The antenna came in a few days and the quality of the components were impressive.
I mounted it in an inverted V on standoffs along my garage roof line with the transformer just off the earth. The transformer is connected to a ground rod, then coax from the transformer to a surge suppressor which is earth grounded before coax enters the garage. The last leg, 50' of coax run thru the garage, basement and up to the radio.
When I first turned my new antenna/Sat800 on the powerful, clear sound actually scared me; stations that had been weak came in very well and many others sounded like they were here around Denver. (And I was told DXing in this part of the country was difficult.)
The performance is still positively first class.
WT7T Rating: 2005-04-16
Fit my needs Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Two months ago I bought a new Drake R8B as my bedside listening radio (replacing an ICF-6800WA that went bad). The R8B on A/B with my TS-2000X and a 45' high G5RV were about equal.

Next I needed a receiving antenna in the bedroom and Grove suggested the EF-SWL. Dale Parfitt warned me that it wouldn't equal the G5RV on MW.

The EF-SWL is well constructed with an excellent instruction sheet. In addition, when I called the phone number at www.parcommunications.com , Dale Parfitt himself answered and guided me along, and discussed the difference between an RF ground and an electrical/lightening ground. Top notch service.

Installing it was easy. I put a ground post 30 feet away from my bedroom window and attached the EF-SWL balun to the ground post. I ran RG8 from the balun, through the wall near my bedroom window, and into the bedroom. I ran the 45' radiator up from the balun, across the clothes line, and to a tree in the back yard.

I am completely pleased. In general, anything I hear on my 102' G5RV/TS-2000X, I hear on the R8B/EF-SWL. Sometimes one is better. Sometimes another. The EF-SWL tails off below 1 MHz at my house, but from 1 MHz to 30 MHz, they are about equal.

Dale says not to transmit with the EF-SWL but I can't resist. This weekend, I'm going to attach an FT-817 and a LDG Z-11 and see how it does. I'll report on that later.
KNOW56 Rating: 2004-03-18
A Great Antenna To Handle RF-Rich QTHs Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I acquired ParZ endfedz SWL antenna about 8 weeks ago. I am located in a suburban major metropolitan area. There are many RF sources both within my home (computers, dimmers that my wife will not let me remove, etc.) and nearby (large power transmission line located 1000 feet away, street lights, etc.) After taking steps to insure a proper station ground (single ground, no daisy-chains) and taking other steps to minimize local RF, I was still experiencing high RF levels particularly on 49 through 90 meters.

I placed the Par SWL antenna in a sloper configuration, with the downward slope oriented to 90 degrees (due east) (toward Europe and North Africa). Height is 25 feet sloping to 8 feet. In a word, this antenna is simply incredible. It outperforms my other antennas (dipole and another longwire sloper with balun feeding coax) 9 out of 10 times in comparisons (all antennas are connected with coax and run through an Alpha Delta 4 switch). In many instances, the noise level inherent in the received signal is remarkably reduced in the Par SWL antenna. I have logged many stations on this antenna that I could not or did not log previously on my other antennas. I was also concerned that at 41 feet, the performance on 60 meters would not be strong. I was wrong. This antenna is excellent on 60 and 90 meters. I am routinely pulling in the low powered Papua and New Guinea stations, for example, that were so hard to hear before on my other antennas.

The construction quality of the antenna is first rate. The balun is modest sized, not too heavy, and is sealed. I am using RG 6 coax, so I simply opted to connect terminals # 1 and 2 on the antenna. Very easy.
K0YW Rating: 2003-12-08
The Parr EF-SWL makes a great antenna for general listening. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased the Parr EF-SWL to improve the HF listening capability of my collection of antique tube HF receivers. I had been using a collection of random wires in up to 50' lengths. While they all worked after a fashion, unwanted noise pickup from house wiring, TV and computer birdies was really making things difficult. The EF-SWL, with its unique end fed matching transformer delivers up to 10 db more signal to my receivers while greatly reducing the local noise pickup. I installed mine with the feed end near ground level, mounted on an 8' ground rod. I found the best noise reductuion was obtained with both the transformer primary and secondary cold ends connected together and grounded. Parr has configured the sealed matching transformer case with 3 stainless screw terminals to easily acomplish this or other grounding configurations. I connected the 45'insulated "Silky" antenna wire to the antenna terminal and connected the other 2 ground terminals together via a small home brew angle bracket. The other side of the bracket is hose clamped to the ground rod. I ran the antenna as a sloper to the top of my roof ridge. I used a 3" ceramic standoff insulator to keep it off the metal rain gutter on the house. The feedline is Rg-58/u that is run up the wall and thru the second floor window to the library cabinet containing the receivers. The coax terminates at a 5 position coax switch with each branch going to one of the receivers. They are arranged by age, ranging from a Westinghouse/RCA Aeriola single tube regen to a Collins 75A4. In between are a Pierson PR10, a National HRO, a Hammarlund HQ129X and a Hallicrafters S-20R. I need a bigger switch! The EF-SWL really wakes these old boxes up. Even though its 50 ohm feed impedance is a bit low for some of the older boxes.AM Broadcast and Ham signals on 160 and 80/75 M are improved significantly over the random wires formerly in use. The reduction of TV osc harmonics and local computer birdies provided by the binocular core transformer and the grounded and shielded feedline is a big plus. The quality of the unit and its simple instruction manual leave no room for criticism. Dale Parfitt has another winner!