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Reviews For: ECO Antenne ECOMET HF-8

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : ECO Antenne ECOMET HF-8
	Reviews: 2	MSRP: 365
	Description: ECOMET HF-8, Art #274, 8 bands trapped vertical antenna for 10/12/15/17/20/30/40M, Optional charged radial for 80M.
	Product is in production
More Info: http://www.ecoantenne.it
# last 180 days	Avg. Rating last 180 days	Total reviews	Avg. overall rating
0	0	2	2.5

IZ0TKP	Rating:	2011-01-12
No gain!			Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
With receiver amplifier, the signals are very weak and too much noizy. Without amplifier there are no signals, on all bands. On 40m and 80m (without kit), the best (?) results.

ON6CV	Rating:	2004-04-26
It's working !			Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
ECOMET HF-8, Art #274, 8 bands trapped vertical antenna Bands covered : 10/12/15/17/20/30/40M, Optional charged radial for 80M Manufacturer : ECO Antenne, Asti, Italy Website : www.ecoantenne.it Europe distributor : Rainer Zimmer Communications - ZiCo Website : www.zico-amateurfunk.de The ECOMET HF-8 multiband trapped vertical antenna is a "classic" vertical trapped antenna with one charged radial at the base per band - so, right out of the box, you have a set of 7 charged radials to attach at the base to a special threaded circular part. To achieve the 80M band, you'll need an add-on kit with it's companion charged radial to be installed in the last remaining threaded hole at the base. Three traps are part of the design, one for 12m, one for 17m and the biggest one at the top for 30m. The assembly of the antenna is really straigthforward and could be given to any 10 years old child ! The total assembly do not takes more than one hour. Of course you'll need a couple of hours to prepare the pole or the mast which will receive the antenna. The radial system should be at least 10ft/3m above any ground or roof top. The antenna is measuring approx. 15ft/5m, weight is about 6kg and will stand, in theory, a power of 2kW SSB PEP. This is a no-nonsense antenna, with no special tricks, just aluminum pipes, stainless steel screws, traps, charged radials... This antenna IS NOT made to compete against a 100ft/30m tower with an 11 elements yagi beam ! This vertical, like all verticals, is a compromise for restricted area operators just like me. This ECOMET HF-8 will not beat some other good verticals designs currently on the market like : GAP TITAN DX, SteppIR BigIR, Hy-Gain AV-640, Cushcraft R8, Butternut HF-9V... etc So guys, what are the advantages of such an antenna ? Personnaly, I will use it as the "B" antenna connected to my YAESU FT-1000MP. The "A" antenna will remain the SAGANT MT-240X, 5 bands, trapped dipole. In my own opinion, the ECOMET HF-8 will be used on these bands : 10/12/15/17/20m. I think that below the 20m band, the gain is really poor thanks to the small physical dimension of the radiator and the presence of some (lossy) traps ! I know traps robs a lot of power but okay, I have no other solutions to erect something else at the moment. Price is excellent too, less than 300€/$365 shipped to your door ! For that price tag, I will not sell it afterwards even if it gives me poor results on some bands. I think I will keep it as a general coverage, receiving only antenna. For example if that antenna is modelized into the EZNEC application, the gain on the 80m (if installed) is approx -11dBi ! That means that if you put 100W into the antenna, the effective radiated power [ERP] will be only approx 5W. By the way, you'll need to put your HF linear amplifier for 2Kw to have an ERP of... 100W !?! Pros : - Cheap antenna, fast delivery from dealer - Could be an excellent "receive only" HF antenna - "Classic" GP vertical trap design fed at the base - Manageable height and weight thus could be easily mounted without the help of the landlord ! - Neighboor friendly compared to some (e.g. GAP TITAN DX) - Easily assembled in one hour stopwatch in hand ! - Easy to tune on each band with an a simple radial adjustment, lengthen or shorten to change the resonant frequency. No cutting is necessary, just slide one tube into the other - I'm pretty sure you could have some nice results using digital modes and/or CW Cons : - No V2A stell or aircraft grade aluminum (who can expect V2A for that price ?) - Too short to expect any good results on the low bands - under 20m I mean - No idea of the effect of time and/or wind on this antenna - Only 2 small screws to attach each trap on the main radiator, hope this will be enough to stand some medium windstorms - I'm not for the solution which consist of putting 2Kw into an antenna to compensate the small physical properties ! I will add a new comment after a short period too see what's really going on with this vertical, after running it a while. http://www.qrz.com/callsign/on6cv http://toonfish.skyblog.com Best 73's Eric, ON6CV

Category:

Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

Product:

ECO Antenne ECOMET HF-8

Summary:

Rating:	Time Owned:
Great! Good OK Needs Help Poor Awful!	0 - 3 Months 3 - 6 Months 6 - 12 Months More than 12 Months

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