| W9CAC |
Rating:  |
2011-07-05 | |
| Got me on the air!!!! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
We retired and downsized, ending up in a HOA. Pretty antenna conservative. I decided to go with a dipole configuration off my deck, using a flagpole as a disguise. I am using a dipole mount(workman), the quick disconnects, and the whips, 40, 20, and 10.(All Workman), coupled with a FT-857d and a YT-100 tuner. Phenomenal! I worked 7 stations in 1 hour on 3 different bands with a 5 foot boom at a 45 degree angle about 12 feet off the ground. Will be buying 15 and 17 meter whips next. Thanks Workman and Thanks K1CRA.
P.S. The quick disconnects work like a charm. Making dismantling quick and easy. No tuning problems either. |
|
| KW4JX |
Rating: |
2011-05-20 | |
| Workman whips work well |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| I bought Workman mobile mono-band whips for all HF bands from Craig K1CRA. They are excellent quality and value. My first contact mobile was 5/9 SSB Costa Rica on 17m using 100 watts. Yesterday on Buffalo NY waterfront I worked SSB EI7JN 5/9 and OX3WS 5/8. Gil W2/G3LBS |
|
| AE4GM |
Rating: |
2010-02-03 | |
| Great whip antennas |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I have the 75, 40, and 20 meter Workman mobile antennas. They are extremely durable and work great. I used them with my main rig by putting them on a copper pole 6 feet high and also using the magmount on a metal tiki torch pole. Easy to make contacts on them. I've even done some qrp with them on 40 meters. Not as good for that as the 40 meter dipole I later put in the trees, but still the performance was impressive for so inexpensive an antenna. I've used the 75 meter one on 80 meters with an antenna tuner on cw-no problem! I haven't owned other mobile antennas, so I can't compare, but if I lost my Workman whips I'd buy more of the same. I'm using the 40 and 20 meter ones on the car now on my Tram magmount. Excellent performance there too. |
|
| KI5SO |
Rating: |
2008-06-21 | |
| Hamsticks will put you on the air |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
Well, for the small cost involved, I give these antennas a good rating and recommend them. They are easy to tune and durable material. Even on 75 meters I am able to check in on the state net. From 20 meter and above, I rate these antennas as great! On 20 meters, I put out strong signals consistently with 5,5 to 5,9 reports. I use 100 watts from my Yaesu FT-857D (see my review on this radio) and the receive is just as good as transmit. The antennas, when grounded good, are very quiet, in my opinion. Mine are bumper mounted to two pieces of angle iron welded to the body underneath my '96 Cavalier car. I only wish workman would make a 2 meter co-linear hamstick. These hf antennas are cheap and will put you on the air in the mobile. But get ready for lots of stares and some questions from people who have no idea what a "ham" is. You can count on it!
Mike Baggett |
|
| K6ZRX |
Rating: |
2008-02-08 | |
| A pretty tough antenna! |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I use Workman antennas on my car and my work truck. I have been satisfied with performance and very impressed with durability. The antenna on my work truck is mounted with a ball mount and spring on the ladder rack. It's pretty high, so it takes a beating. A few weeks ago, we had heavy storms and I had to make my way to some of our public safety radio sites to make emergency repairs. There were many low hanging, snow laden branches, some of which were low enough to rub the hood of the truck. After making several of these trips, I finally bent the whip at the top of the antenna (low branch and going pretty fast). I replaced the whip with a section of a heavy commercial whip, and put some fresh shrink tubing on the fiberglass part where it was abraded (the windings were not damaged). It's much heavier, and must put more strain on the fiberglass section. The antenna on my car has never sustained any damage, but it sees a much easier life. All of us at the shop expected this antenna to die an early death, mounted high and traveling around many low hanging branches. It did take a hit and needed repair/modification. This is service that most installations will never see, and if it does finally get busted for good, it was a bargain, so I'm not out too much.
Buy it and try it!!! |
|
| VK2KC |
Rating: |
2007-11-10 | |
| Works great |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I bought 2 x 75m mobile whips and used them as a dipole on a pushup pole 18ft total length. I had a problem, the dipole resonated at 3.7 mhz. (why don't you US Hams use frequency instead of bands!) I did question Workman and told them I was going to use it at 3.6Mhz, and they said it was OK. NOT TRUE! I needed longer "stingers" in fact 6" longer. I then decided to try an alloy disc under the stinger, got a pair of them 4" in diameter, and bingo! The dipole now works. I had to brace the whips to stop them from sagging as the dipole mount was feeling the pinch.
In short, once I got them tuned, not too bad, considering the cost! |
|
| N4VHG |
Rating: |
2007-09-25 | |
| Inexpensive and well made |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have used the Lakview and Valor hamstick styles on 20,40 and 75 mtrs with good results.
I saw an add for these for 5 for 49.95.
So, I purchased the 10,12,15,17 and another 75.
The came inside of a PVC pipe! No damage at all and secure.
I assembled, resonated ant tested them all out in less than an hour. All had 1.5:1 or less vswr at resonance. Signal reports have been good. I check in mobile to nets every am on 40 and 75.
Quality is equal to the valor/ pro-am and slightly better than Lakeview. (however, my lakeview 75 and 20 mtr elements are >20 years old and still work great). With mount and coax you can get on the air mobile, 5 bands for less than $100.
I ordered 3 of the Workman stake hole truck mounts and a 3-way coax switch and now have 3 installed on my F-150. My truck has the 8 foot bed. I could fill all the stake holes and run 6 of them!
|
|
| KC9AXZ |
Rating: |
2007-07-21 | |
| It works |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
There isn't much to say about these antennas. I picked up a 20M stick awhile back. I only use it while camping and parked. I always bring a LDG tuner along. On 20M I don't need the tuner. I have used the tuner on the 20M stick to work 6,15,17,20&40M. It always works FB, and contacts aren't hard to get with 100W and the tuner. I also broke a few piles with this setup. I'm sure there are better setups but this one doesn't fail.
Jon KC9AXZ
www.kc9axz.com |
|
| KP4TR |
Rating: |
2007-03-03 | |
| Great performer for the price |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I've used my Workman 20M antenna on my Toyota RAV4 for the past 3 weeks and I am very happy with it.
Tuning was a breeze wit a SWR analyzer. Of course this was after I realized my 8 foot ground wire running down the back of the door was being seen as a counterpoise, which was fine on 20M but totally distorted the 40M antenna. This was easily fixed by replacing the wire with a short braid wire hooked under my roof rack. My mistake! SWR across the phone portion of 20M is no more than 1.4. I also own the 10M, 15M, 40M and 80M versions. The 10M, 15M worked flawlessly. The 40M bandwith is not too wide (7200-7250Mhz) which is OK, but on 80M I found it limited to around 40Khz. Not a flaw of the antenna as this is what the specs say.
Overall I am happy with them. They only cost $11 each! |
|
| KA9DTZ |
Rating: |
2007-02-04 | |
| Give it a try |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I received my Workman 40m stick (K1CRA)and mounted it to my car with a triple magnet mount. I have to admit I was somewhat skeptical even with the (few) reviews I had to go on. I will refer to these antennas as inexpensive since they certainly don't appear to be cheaply made. The one change I made before putting it on the car was to replace the plated set-screws with stainless steel set-screws.
After installing and routing the coax, I started the tuning process. This went well at the top of 40m and the SWR dropped to almost flat. As expected, it started to rise sharply as I went down the band. Since the whip was fully extended, I couldn't tune the antenna for lower SWR but I believe the coupling with the magnetic mount contributes to this problem. When I get some extra strapping between the trunk lid and body done we'll see if things improve. Don't look at this as a complaint though. I couldn't be happier with the performance.
Once the antenna was all ready, I went on the air for the real test. The first contact was immediate with a couple of others joining in to comment. All comments were positive. A few days later, while taking a 200 mile round trip, I made several more contacts and, again, signal reports were good and comments were positive. From Central Indiana, 56 to 59 reports were coming in from NC (maritime mobile), MI, MN, TX, AR and PA on that trip. What more could you want?
I'm sold and I plan to add more of them for other bands soon.
73, Greg |
|
