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Reviews For: Workman

Category: Antennas: HF Mobile & Accessories

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Review Summary For : Workman
Reviews: 13MSRP: 62.95
Description:
Hamstick type HF antenna
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00134.8
K6YUM Rating: 2006-01-19
K6YUM Time Owned: more than 12 months.

I have Workmen Mobile Antennas for 75, 40, 20, 17, 15 & 10 meters. I have found all the antennas to work GREAT. The 40-meter mod does have some inter-reaction with the shell on my pick-up truck but a small coil at the base allows this to be tuned out. There is no coupling on the 75-meter antenna but the bandwidth is very narrow, as on 40 meters, which is to be expected. I can operate on the SSB end of 20 with one setting with a very low SWR, 1:1 at resonance. The higher bands all tune to a 1:1 at resonance and are good over most of the bands with 17 meters flat over the entire band. I do not use an antenna tuner on my Alinco DX 70TH. I simply spent the time to tune the SWR out on each antenna. The antennas operate great. They put out a fantastic signal on all bands.

I got my collection off of EBay from a west coast dealer who normally sells them individually for around $12.00 each. I bought a group or package of antennas from him, which got me a reduction in price, $8.00 each. The shipping costs were minimal. I have purchased a couple extra with the intent of eventually making a 3-element single band yagi for 17 meters.

I keep each antenna in its plastic bag. The whip parts have been pre-tuned and tightened down. There is black electrical tape wrapped on the metal whip element to ensure I know where the loading point is if by some chance the metal whip should move in its metal mounting.

I resonated each antenna by inserting an SWR meter immediately at the coax output of the DX 70TH. I set the rig to the low power setting on the desired frequency. The whip portion of each antenna was set at its maximum extension. I slowly checked the SWR as I moved the whip into the antenna approximately ΒΌ inch between each SWR measurement. I did this until the minimum SWR point was located for each antenna. This is a slow process and may have to be repeated a couple of times to locate the best position for the whip. Once the best position is located, the lock down screws is tightened to hold the whip. Be sure not to over tighten the screws. I have found that this method matches the entire system, feed line and antenna to the rig. Be sure to keep any connections between rig and the SWR meter as short as possible for this will impact on your tuning when removed.

The antennas are a bit of a pain when changing bands for you have to remove one and replace it with another. However, with the addition of a quick disconnect, the chore is minimal. I simply screw the whip element in the top of the coil portion and pop it on the P/U via the quick disconnect. I can also remove the antenna and slip it within the P/U bed under the shell when parked. No fear of someone taking the antenna, but if they did, the loss is minimal at the price.

The Workmen antennas allow me to use my K4POZ screwdriver antenna at the home QTH with my QRP rig. I would recommend these antennas to anyone. I am very pleased with them, especially for the cost involved. Just remember, you must be willing to take the time to resonate the antenna you purchase. This is the key to them working correctly.


N9EGT Rating: 2005-10-19
Inexpensive but excellent Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The Workman mobile antennas are very inexpensive but work great! I have their 6, 10, 15, 17, 20, 40 band versions and all seem to work very well with my triple magnet mount base. I have used them with my car and truck. Contacts have been made all over the US and Europe. I recommend this antenna!
N4KZ Rating: 2005-10-03
Good value Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought a new Workman 40 meter mobile antenna at the TenTec Hamfest and paid just $10 for it. What a deal. I put it on the car the next day and immediately made 8-10 QSOs on 40 meter SSB with good signal reports.

The significance of this is that I also have an actual HamStick 40 meter mobile antenna and I have never made a single QSO with it. It receives well but no one has ever replied to me. I'd always heard that HamStick-type antennas work well on 20 meters and higher (I know from experience that they do indeed!) but I'd heard that the 40 meter version was rather inefficient and worked poorly. So I just chalked up my bad experience on 40 to that but when I saw the $10 Workman, I thought, "Hey, what the heck. It's worth 10 bucks just to try it out."

Gee, am I glad I did! The Workman appears to be better made too. The top whip actually easily screws off for storage in the car trunk while the HamStick must be taken apart with a screwdriver.

Other type mobile antennas will and do work better on 40 but they cost hundreds of dollars while my antenna is very affordable. Someday I will upgrade to one of the fancy screwdriver-type mobile antennas but in the meantime this and my other HamStick antennas work surprisingly well considering their simplicity and low cost.
73, Dave, N4KZ