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Reviews For: PAR Electronics, Inc EF-10/20/40

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : PAR Electronics, Inc EF-10/20/40
Reviews: 92MSRP: 59
Description:
The EF-10/20/40 replaces the EF-20/40. Physically identical to the EF-20/40 (39' overall) it adds 10M operation. 25W power limit. No tuner is required.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.LnRprecision.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
15925
N6MYA Rating: 2010-10-09
Nicely built antenna Time Owned: N.A.
Actually i would give it a 3.5, but since there are no half points, and it will work on the two bands i work the most ... then a 4 it is.

The antenna tuned up great on 20 meters and the band width is very broad. It tuned up perfectly on the CW portion of 40 meters and as others have said it is pretty narrow banded on 40.

No matter what i did i could not get it to tune on 10 meters ... anywhere. Nothing. 3 to 1 or more from 28.010 to 29.690. I tried moving it, changing its' height above ground, sloping, vertical. Nada.

So i guess 2 out of three ain't too bad.


Now for the construction. It is great. Stainless hardware, extra tough coating on the wire, and the wire it self ... it is amazingly tough, looks like it is copper coated, solders well, and i know it will out live me. The matching box is solidly constructed, looks like it might be potted, and looks like you could drive over it with a truck and it would survive.

Thanks to Larry for getting it to me.

N6MYA
AURICH Rating: 2010-08-31
Great for QRP portable! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I needed a small, sturdy, resonant (no-tuner) antenna for portable QRP work with my Yaesu FT-817ND, that also doubled as a good home antenna as well. I read quite a few reviews and decided that with the 5/5 reviews the Par End Fedz 10/20/40 was definitely worth trying. I recieved the antenna, and strung it up horizontally about 8ft up to tune it. With a couple quick snips of the 40m end it registered low SWR on 10/20/40. I heard a net in progress and threw my call sign out there using 1 watt and they instantly came back to me from Oregon (I'm located in Colorado). I was pleased to say the least. I've been working with the antenna for about a month now and love the antenna. I have casually worked 26 states (including Hawaii) and 5 DX countries (Mexico, Canada, Aruba, Virgin Islands, Slovenia) all SSB with <5w and the antenna strung from the top of my dining room window (~8ft high) to a fence post (~4ft high). The physical length of the antenna is very convenient (~40ft) and will fit into even small yards or campsites, and the black insulated wire is nearly invisible, making it perfect for stealth operations. I have no doubts that this antenna will stand up to the weather and elements. A little trick I use for stringing the antenna when camping is to use 550 cord and to push a loop through the support holes on each end and then pass a small bight of the free end of the cord through the loop with plenty of the loose free end hanging down. This creates a quick-release so with a tug of the free end the antenna comes down quickly and you don't loose your antenna should your support cord become tangled among the treetops. I would highly recommend this antenna to anyone!
W8BS Rating: 2010-07-27
No Better /P Setup Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.

I have been working away from home for the last year (NC and PA from Ohio...Soon to be WV)

I have tried numerous setups for my portable QRP station and the Par 10/20/40 is by far the best solution. I tuned the antenna with only the SWR meter on my FT-817ND and performance has been outstanding. I have been running PSK31 lately with very good results at 5 watts. I have a 22 Ft. kite pole that I use to get me an apex and run the Endfedz as a sloper. Don't hesitate and get one of these from Dale. NOW !!!

W2AEW Rating: 2010-07-25
Absolutely great Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
There's a reason that this antenna has 5.0 out of 5 on the ratings. It is easy to tune, easy to setup, and works great. All of the other reviewers are hit the nail on the head too.

I use this antenna with my IC-703+ and can work just about anything I can hear.

Dale typically has limited purchase windows for the Amateur products, so be sure to mark your calendar during his next open order window! You will NOT be disappointed.
N3LJS Rating: 2010-06-17
It works Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I was trying out a new mast one day in the backyard. The EF 10-20-40 worked great I heard a lot of DX. I worked Cuba on SSB and a loud station down in Atlanta. About 600 miles to GA double that down into Cuba on 18 wattts. SFI was about 72. You can watch my video on You Tube on my set up that evening.

N3LJS
KJ4MRB Rating: 2010-05-27
Exceeds my expectations Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Just echoing what everyone else has already stated.

I'm a fairly new ham, who decided to jump into this hobby by starting off with QRP CW. Probably not the easiest thing to start out with, but that was my challenge.

My biggest concern was what to do about an antenna. Don't have room on my lot for a dipole, plus I did want multi-band. So, I decided to give this antenna a try after reading all the positive reviews here on eham.

I ended up setting up this antenna by attaching the transformer end to my house, and running the radiator end up into the trees. Due to the nature of my lot, it is slightly sloping, with the transformer end at about 15 feet, the radiator end at about 35-35 feet.

Used my MFJ-259 to tune it and got on the air.

Have no problem making contacts on both 20 and 40 meter up to 1000 miles. Have worked stations from both CO and AZ at times from my FL QTH.

Last night however, I set a new personal record. I was able to work a CA station (over 2200 miles) on 20 mtrs using my K1 @ 5 watts.

Needless to say, I'm more that please with the performance of the antenna, especially given the dismal sun spot conditions these days.

Cannot wait to see what it can do when decent propagation returns.

73

Don
KJ4MRB
KD0FDJ Rating: 2010-05-18
Rig as a Wire Beam Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Try using this as the driven element for a SuperSloper W7WKB 2-element wire beam (see 1995 QST article, or Google "SuperSloper" to find a .pdf copy of the article.) You just run a plain parasitic director wire a few feet above it. Get great gain on 10m and some on 20m, with a much better F/B ratio. I placed 2nd in a QRP ARCI SSB contest using this on 20m (from a great location, of course)! It won't help on 40m, though.
N9HHH Rating: 2010-03-14
Additional comments Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Let me add to my previous review by adding the following - The antenna most surely works exactly as the directions say it should, which is quite refreshing and I guess something others have come to expect from Dale and his excellent products. Dale has explained to me the design objective of 40 feet for the overall length of the antenna which accounts for the short (7 foot) 40 meter tip with narrow bandwidth. Compare that to the needed 66 feet to make it wider on 40 and surely it takes the antenna from unusable in confined spaces to quite usable in a variety of spaces.

The end insulator design coupled with the wire gauge makes it easy to change the 40M frequency resonance with the antenna deployed if one wants to make sure the optimum SWR is attained in the portion of the 40 meter band which you intend to operate in. I plan to pre-mark mine so that in the field I can change the frequency without needing the analyzer.

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Earlier 4-star review posted by N9HHH on 2010-03-14

My first experience with this antenna was when using my MFJ259 for the first time while giving a new ham friend the basics on setting up a QRP rig and tuning the antenna with the MFJ. We started in my driveway here in downtown Colorado Springs late in the afternoon on a Saturday. We put it up as a sloper on the only tree/open space combo on my small lot and went on to tuning. The antenna behaved exactly as it said it would in the instructions. It was resonant at about 6.65 mhz, so we went about shortening the 40M end. 20 was good with 1.5 or so SWR in the middle of the band.

On 20 meters the antenna is very broad; good SWR over a wide frequency range. 40 is another story. Getting just under 2:1 SWR takes place at a narrow range, so rather than cutting the wire I just doubled it back and wrapped it around the antenna so I could tune it in the future to a specific frequency, phone versus CW. Maybe cutting some of that off will broaden it up some. We'll see.

Anyway, after getting it trimmed we listened in on CW on 40 but since my new ham friend knows no code it was on to 20 meter phone to make some contacts. With the sloper pointed SE it was no surprise that I was picking up Atlanta area stations. Within a few minutes I got back a 59+20 out of Atlanta on 5 watts. For grins I cut the power back to half a watt and worked the other station for another 10 minutes with the S level coming back S7 to S9! After copying the mail on the other station's next contact I learned of a QRP operator working out of Alaska so went to that frequency. He was coming in 48 but I did not try to break the pile-up of folks working him.

All in all the antenna is going to do what I want for a QRP HF Pack setup. No need for a tuner is a nice feature of this antenna - just be sure and use the analyzer for the first several uses to make sure your tuning is good for the configuration and surroundings. This thing could be real hard on 817 finals on 40 meters if care is not taken.
W7SAT Rating: 2010-02-21
Great Antenna!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I tried many different antennas for my bottom floor apartment. I tried for months putting up different antennas with poor results and RF into the home. I read great reviews here on eHam about Par Electronics antennas. I emailed Dale, and he got back to me within an hour. I decided to order the 10/20/40 version of the end-fedz. The antenna is built like a tank and the instructions could not be easier. A clip here and a clip there and the wire is tuned. I fired up my eBay special the Yaesu FT-840 and tuned around the 20m band. I heard a CQ coming from California. I figured why not try. I put my radio at 10 watts and gave my call back. A few seconds later I received a reply, by this time I was almost jumping around the room. My very first HF contact with 10 watts to a California station 900 miles south. He gave me a 5 and 6. We had a great 10 min ragchew.

Not bad for an antenna setup as an inverted L only 10 feet off the ground running under the eave of the balcony. 8ft vertical and roughly 27ft horizontal.

Thank you Dale for such a great product!!


KC2TAU Rating: 2010-01-11
What a fantastic antenna! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
When I first purchased my Icom 703 I needed a good antenna to go with it. After searching around and reading the good words posted about the EF 10/20/40 I decided to give it a go. I emailed Dale and requested that I would like to order one. He responded quickly and stated that,although he was currently busy with government orders,because I was a new ham he would ship one out for me so that I could get on the air as quickly as possible.

The antenna itself is very rugged in construction and really is made to withstand outdoor portable operation. I cannot recall how many times I've thrown this antenna into a tree and then pulled it down at the end of the day and yet it has still stayed together remarkably well.

Trimming the antenna to size is quite easy and when done I was able to get a match of between 1.2-1.5:1 on each band. Performance wise it has been fantastic with my 703 I have achieved about 80% of my 100 DXCC's worked with this antenna with the furthest contact being either central Russia or Argentina both of which were a distance of about 5,400 miles. This is quite impressive considering this was on 20 meter SSB during a cycle minimum.

When 20 meters is open and with this antenna throw up into a tree about 25 feet in the air in the peak and then coming down to the ground in a sloper configuration Europe is open to me with an average signal report of between a 55 to a 58. The stations at the other end are always very surprised when they hear that the working conditions are only 10 watts into a comparatively small antenna. The antenna may not be as long as other antennas but that does not seem to hurt it's performance.

Dale has always been helpful and responsive with me when I have had questions or have made requests for spare/replacement parts. Overall I cannot recommend this antenna enough for someone looking for their first portable antenna or even for their first antenna period. Dale's service is great and the product itself works very well and is extremely durable.