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Reviews For: Moonraker MTD-2 40/80 Dipole

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Moonraker MTD-2 40/80 Dipole
Reviews: 4MSRP: 44.95 Pounds Sterling £
Description:
MTD-2 (2 band) Freq: 40-80 Mtrs. Length 20 Mtrs Power 1000 Watts.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.amateurantennas.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0042.8
G4AHJ Rating: 2010-11-24
poor Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
40 mtrs is ok but 80 its usless, whatever i do the swr on 80 is so hi it turns the auto atu on my ft 1000mp off, i have tried this at heights from 20 to 70 feet with various angles of an inverted v, spoke to moonraker and they were not interested, i have used the warc version and that was really good
GW4PJQ Rating: 2009-11-05
good value Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had two of these now and they are truly great value. The lack of a balun would not explain G8DHQs horrendously poor matching issues. I'm a bit surprised to see a G8 make such a comment, there must be either a fault with the antenna or the analyser. There is absolutely no need to use a balun when feeding a dipole with coax. The side connected to the braid is just a counterpoise and power is induced into it from the “driven” side. My only quibble with this antenna is; the 3:1 bandwidth on 80m is only 100 kHz. I take about ten turns off the coil and lengthen the 80m stub and that gives me all the coverage I need on 80m. I have no problems getting a 1:1 match at resonance. BUY ONE! Oh yes it works very well on 15m as well because it is a one and a half wave dipole on that band. As I say just buy one!
G8DHQ Rating: 2009-04-01
problems with mtd2 Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I bought the Moonraker MTD2 to replace my long wire that was giving me too much local QRM on 40 and 80.
from the picture it appeared to be a trap dipole with the MB1X balun in the middle. I mounted the antenna as near as possible to the way described on the data sheet.
due to site restriction the centre was lower that sugesseted in the data sheet.
there were no instruction on the data sheet about the co-ax feeder. making me believe the system was indepenant of feeder arrangement Provied I used 50 Ohm co-ax).
I tested the antenna at the base of the mast with my MFJ antenna analyzer. I adjusted the antenna as per instruction to get a low swr at 7.1 MHz. the antenna was already resonant at 3.6 MHz without adjustment but the SWR was a bit high.
after I extended the feeder back to the shack the reading I took at the base of the mast went there and I had high swr over most frequencies.
Thinking I had a duff balun on the aerial. I checked with Moonraker an they told me there was no balun which explained why I had the effects I was seeing.

in order to attempt to get this aerial to work at my QTH I am going to have to retro fit my own balun
M0OIC Rating: 2003-12-24
Great product for small garden (yard) Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Our small garden does not lend itself to long antennas and for 20,17,15,12 and 10 Metres I use the excellent CobWebb antenna. However my need for 40 and 80 metres dictated an obvious compromise and the MTD-2 is just that. Measuring a maximum of 20 Meters it is ideal for my location and even more so when installed in a recommended inverted V.

Height at centre point is just on 30 feet dropping to approximately 20 feet at each end. QTH is Nottinghan, East Midlands and antenna is positioned North to South.

40 metres is excellent with very good reports being received using my maximum of 100 watts (FT1000MP Mk5 Field) and it has met all expectations. The internal ATU matches at <1:1.5 without problem and better than 59 reports are the norm.

80 metres is good but I do find that it tends to suffer noise similar to that of an earlier vertical antenna used on loan. Conditions on 80M have not been too good of late but it does work well, receiving similar reports to that of other stations on frequency during arranged nets/skeds. Bandwidth is very narrow and when received it was tuned towards CW frequencies. Adjustment to my requirements was very simple but bandwidth using the internal ATU is restricted to 80Khz.

Quality of manufacture could not be faulted and I consider it good value for the £44.95.

Instructions are easily followed which is just as well as they are provided by the manufacturer in Italy and translation could be much better. Other antennas which are actually made by Moonraker obviously do not have this problem.

Dealer support? I contacted Moonraker by telephone and at a local radio rally when ordering the antenna and found staff most helpful and efficient.

Would I purchase this antenna again? Yes without hesitation.

Would I deal with Moonraker again? Yes without hesitation.

Would I recommend the Mtd-2 to a friend? Yes without hesitation.

Summary: An excellent antenna, ideal for the small garden, of excellent quality and easy to install and adjust. Instructions in English would be better than those supplied.