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Reviews For: KMA-5054

Category: Antennas: VHF/UHF+ Directional (Yagi, quad, etc.)

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Review Summary For : KMA-5054
Reviews: 9MSRP: $112 + shipping
Description:
6m Log Periodic
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.qsl.net/w4kma/6m.htm
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0094.9
K4CMC Rating: 2016-08-18
Great Value Antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Used the antenna for both six and 2 meters when in Florida living in a deed restricted community as it looked close enough to a TV antenna to fool them. Recently wanted to add to my six meter stable of antennas as my Tennadyne suddenly did not like six meters when I put my tower back up in the air. When I checked with my Comet analyzer for some reason the resonant frequency on the KMA5054 was higher than I wanted for SSB at about 54 Mhz and it also had a resonant point at 48 Mhz. Tried inserting some aluminum rods in the big driven element to lower the resonant frequency but for some reason it did not work. Got an inspiration, so I cut down the biggest driven element to 58 inches which is the length most six meter yagis use for their biggest element and cut all the other elements down the exact same amount. Just like magic the antenna now has a flat SWR at 50.125 Mhz and the SWR is great up to way past 50.276 Mhz where I do a lot of JT65 digital mode work. Unfortunately it no longer is resonant on 2 where I might use it as not surprisingly the frequency went up radically, but I have several other 2 meter antennas including a loop fed Inov 2 meter yagi on top of my tower so this is not an issue. Have got well over ten years of use out of this antenna, but apparently they are no longer in business.
N0DQS Rating: 2010-10-31
Best in it's class Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Bought the antenna for portable and Roving and have been really happy with the antenna, built tough can turn sideways and mount on the roof rack for transport on the vehicle and easy to put on a mast and performs well and not to worry about tuning. Have used on the tower as well and great performance for the footprint, can install on a rooftop tripod if you choose with a light rotator and will work well. Good value/performance/size ratio. Would like to get another. Have had this for several years and loaned it out for portable use and no disapointments.
W6GMT Rating: 2008-07-08
Great Antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This antenna has been used at my summer QTH in the Chippewa National forest in MN for 5 seasons. Works well 300+ Grids and 49 States on 6.
12 states and 40 grids on 2. Up 25 feet on the tool shed and turned with a Radio Shack rotor. Fed with LRM 400. Well Built by good people.
K3JVB Rating: 2008-07-08
bang for the buck !! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Well I have had the 5054 for about a week.

As stated , only 32 feet. So far, I am very pleased. I have worked a little dx. Canary Islands, and CT9's ....not bad running 8 watts.
I have a few amps, but figured this would be a better way to check the performance. It is not a pile-up breaker, but 5 by 7 report is not a bad job.

It does work pretty well on 2 so far. Again QRP, it seems about 100-150 miles is not a problem on 2

I will put a pair of TE system bricks in line and seen whats next.

Small fot print, 6 foot boom, and 2 meters as a bonus.Just what I needed to get on 6, without much fuss,
Great job Ed.
73

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Earlier 5-star review posted by K3JVB on 2008-06-29

Being a casual vhf operator, and having limited space for "another" beam..

I chose the 5054. Very well made, and it works very well , for a short boomed log.
My initial impression is very good.

It seems about 2-3 S units stronger than my ku4ab loop. And the loop is about 20 feet higher. The 5054 is only at 32 feet.

Swr is flat across the entire 6 meter band. As an added bonus in plays very well on 2 meters !

And Ed, at KMA is a great guy to deal with.
Bottom line...this little antenna is hard to beat.
Solid value...
W5DHE Rating: 2007-09-05
6 Meter Log Periodic Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Boom length 6 feet No.of elements 5 Longest element length 10.9 feet Materials 6061 Aluminum &stainless hardware Gain 7.5 dBi Front Back 30dB
SWR less than 1.5:1.0,measured over entire band
Optional End mount Antenna may be end-mounted with optional mount. This antenna mounted on a 45 degree angle instead of horizontal. I use it on 2M with no tuning works great.I have talked a round the world with this ant. Here is there web site www.kmaantennas.com They make more then 6M ant's. Thanks Tim Hughes N5EPI EM40
N4AEQ Rating: 2006-11-05
Great tri bander Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The 5054 sets just atop the roof line on a tv rotor & has survived bening taken down, left laying around and put back up years later, elements are very heavy and easily bent back in shape even after years of abuse in the weeds.
I read the other review and desided to check the
2 meter & 440 swr, its almost flat and works great for 6m, 2m & 440. I cant figure out why they dont call it a tri bander?
K7ZD Rating: 2005-03-30
Inexpensive Performer Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Very easy assembly, great customer service! Went together in less that a hour, turning it with a old Alliance U100 rotor. Doesn't work like a 7 el long boom optimized yagi, but can't be beat for the price and getting on 6M on a small budget. My VSWR is virtually flat across the band (after I took it off my remote antenna switch) and it seems to have a little gain/directivity on 2M too!
KG4SSY Rating: 2004-06-20
A Great deal! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just purchased the KMA 5054 after looking around for quite awhile because I wanted an antenna that would work all of 6 without a tuner. This is a quality made antenna that performs excellently. Assembly was a snap. The hardest part was putting it up in the air.
This antenna is hooked to a Yaseu FT-650 100w rig and at a whopping 25 ft off the ground. The highest SWR reading I get is 1.6:1 Mostly it is around 1.2:1. (This was double checked with my MFJ-864 for accuracy)And NO TUNER is required.
This is a "plug and play" antenna that works great. For $112 you cant beat it.
In this weekends band opening if I could hear it I could work it. From Augusta, GA I worked Montana to Texas to Puerto Rico and Grand Cayman. I definitly recommend this antenna.
W4ATM Rating: 2004-01-25
Great little antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Little antenna? Isn't that bad? Not really. The KMA-5054 is a dedicated 6m log periodic on a 6 foot boom. Yeah, gain is proportional to boom length, but its bigger brother costs an extra 9 feet in boom length for only an extra 2 dB of gain. One flicker of the ionosphere and that's gone. This one fits at the top of my tower and causes minimal extra wind resistance.

Assembly goes pretty smoothly. The elements are a tight fit in the boom, but that's a good thing.

In addition to providing a good match and good performance on 6, this antenna has good performance on 2m. In my installation, it gives a good enough match at 432.1 MHz so that I can use it as basically a horizontally polarized omni antenna for listening around.

In the month it has been up I've been able to test it pretty thoroughly on 6 and 2. When 6 is open, I work everything I hear. It works well enough on 2 that I haven't felt a need for anything else.

If you're mostly interested in 6, but want to sample 2, this is the antenna for you. Mine's only at 25'. I bet that at 40 or 50 feet, it's dynamite.