| NE0G |
Rating:     |
2022-08-27 | |
| Great but I did make modification |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I have used the MFT series hamsticks for a few years and 20 meters and higher they work very well. I was using the 20 meter stick on my camper, it worked well, but being a ham we have to play around with things a bit. I took my 15 meter stick and screwed on my 102 inch CB whip on top and I now have something that works better. 2:1 across the 20 meter band. I think if I took about an inch or less off it would be perfect. I did put on a big CB spring on the base for a little reassurance that nothing breaks. With the spring it is resonant just below 14Mhz. My FTDX10 tuner gives a little help. By the way I discovered the 10 meter stick with the long whip is perfect on 17 meters. |
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| NC4RT |
Rating:     |
2022-03-20 | |
| Resonant at SSB only |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
On the positive side: the antenna works well, is compact, and is therefore easy to transport.
Negatives: it is not possible to adjust this (or any other MFJ hamstick I've ever had) into the CW sub-band. With a tuner, I can easily get there, but "barefoot" the antenna resonates at the high end of the SSB portion.
I'm using them as a dipole, with the MFJ dipole bracket, feeding them with window line, and elevating the dipole about 30' into the air.
All that said, I have made plenty of CW contacts using a tuner, at QRP levels, with this antenna.
I currently own 3 pairs of them, and store them in a PVC case I made.
Another negative: the Allen wrench supplied with the antenna is made of some sort of cheap steel, and rounds over in only a few uses. You will need your own Allen wrench if you adjust the dipole more than once or twice.
If MFJ made two varieties of these, one for SSB and one for CW, I would be happy to give it 5 stars. |
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| K6ITR |
Rating:     |
2021-10-04 | |
| Works great as a base antenna for me, plenty of bandwidth. |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I've tried this 20 meter antenna stationary mobile with a mag mount and a trunk lip mount, which worked OK, but I wouldn't consider driving around with one of these on any mount. The 20 meter version is a good alternative to a full 16 foot 1/4 wave. During the California QSO Party (from southern California) after setting up this antenna vertical atop an 8 foot pole with two 16' east/west sloping radials, in 3 hours, I had 14 eastern states, two Canadian provinces, and the Slovak Republic, all on 70 watts or less. The bandwidth on this antenna covers the 14.150 - 14.350 portion of 20 meters, and beyond, so no swapping out or adjusting to cover the band. I've set up two as a dipole, but it's a bit heavy and hard to get high enough without a pretty substantial pole. I'd give it a 5 just for the value of it, but on one of them the plastic coating is splitting. Otherwise, not bad, and a good solution for a portable or semi-permanent base antenna if you don't have the room or permission for something bigger or more permanent. |
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| WB9VKM |
Rating:     |
2021-07-18 | |
| surprised me |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have the 20 meter stick on a Bee Hive /stud mount in the truck deck. I run a Ft 891 thru RG8-U and a coil of 9 turns around 3 inch pcv. With the poor band conditions I have worked Japan Twice and Sovenia, in the first 3 months of 2019 - but I am not in the mobil every day . If I can hear them I can work them . SWR is about 17-2.0 across the band . Wish it would tune lower but it works.
It is the middle of 2021 and I have taken 6 3000 mile trips with this antenna. ALWAYS get great reports on 20 meters. Only problem occurred after a large 3 inch hail stone hit it. |
|
| W3VT |
Rating:      |
2019-06-13 | |
| They work. |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I ordered this 20M "Hamtenna" and a triple magnetic mount for my mobile. All mobile antennas are comprise antennas, and forums are filled with antenna experts explaining why a setup like this is a bad idea and how poorly it will perform and why. If I have learned anything over the years, I have learned that sometimes all you need to do is get your signal up in the air and mother nature will do the rest. Bottom line is when I connected the 2 piece antenna to the magnet, tuned it for the center of the voice portion of 20M, it covered the whole portion under 1.5:1. Using my 200w Kenwood TS480HX mobile, I made 8 contacts from AZ, TX, FL, AL, GA, and Peurto Rico in less than 30 mins. Signal reports varied from barely hear ya to 5/9 plus. It was a blast. Mission accomplished. I don't know how the antenna will hold up, but it works. You're not likely going to bust pile-ups to an Easter Island Dxpedition, but it will get you on the air to have fun. Yes, better mounts and better antennas are out there, but don't let the naysayers keep you from getting on the air at low cost and having fun with one of these simple antennas. |
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| N9SD |
Rating:      |
2019-03-29 | |
| Works great, low SWR, excellent performance, working DX mobile! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I have the full-length hamsticks for 40m, 20m and 17m. They work great, particularly on 20m. With a trunk lip mount and proper tuning of the antenna (don’t rely on an antenna tuner) I have been able to consistently work around the US and into Europe, Russia and South America with excellent signal reports - many people are surprised that I am running mobile. Lowest SWR is 1.2. On 20m, the SWR goes up to around 2 at the upper and lower band edges. Not bad. On 40m, it’s pretty narrow, so I just tune it for around 7230. On 17m, the SWR is 1.2 or lower across the entire band.
The stainless steel whip is much longer than required, so as you are adjusting the antenna, you may find that it only resonates below the band in question. This happens because the bottom of the whip interacts with the coil. If the whip extends into the region of the coil, you’ll need to shorten it. I have had to trim 4” - 6” from the bottom of the whips to get them to resonate where I want them..
I installed a shunted coil, 10 winds of insulated 12g house wire on a 1” form. This allowed me to get the SWR down from a 2 to a 1.2 on 40m. It appeared to make the antenna B/W a little wider on 20m, but I wouldn’t swear by that.
I also added ground cables from the mount to the trunk lid and from the trunk lid to the chassis of the car. No other ground cables anywhere else.
I’m not a nose-in-the-air-hyper-critical-antenna-snob. If I can work stations from the car and have fun doing it, that’s all I really care about. These antennas work great and have opened a whole new experience in ham radio for me in mobile HF! After 43 years in the hobby, this is my first HF mobile experience, and I’m having a blast! Value per dollar spent: excellent!
See you on the air! |
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| KF2XN |
Rating:  |
2018-01-28 | |
| Disappointed & Frustrated |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I purchased a rail/mirror mount, 25' of LMR-240 and the MFJ-1620T & MFJ-1617T tunable mobile whip antennas with the intention to mount them on the cockpit rail of my 40' sailboat to get a better signal on those bands. I spent close to $100 hamfest price from a dealer at the fest. Spent an entire afternoon trying to tune each whip for the desired operating frequency using an MFJ-259B analyzer. To no avail, I could not come even come close to tuning resonance to my operating frequencies nor could I obtain an SWR that was below 5:1. Worse on 17 meters, I gave up in frustration. I think the product is crap. It's going back to the dealer tomorrow. Licensed ham since 1967 and no beginner at this game. I feel like I got taken to the cleaners buying this junk. |
|
| W7KZU |
Rating:      |
2017-11-17 | |
| Wow, really good for what it is |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
On July 3rd went portable with two of these on a dipole mount raised up 17ft into the air on a painters pole in the middle of a park. Meanwhile the hams I was with put up a 34ft military mast and 102ft inverted-V dipole up and I was hearing more stations/making more contacts than them! It's amazing what these can do.
Also, I operated out of my 4th floor apartment with an S9 noise floor running two of these in a dipole on a 4ft piece of PVC pipe and was working PSK31, CW, FT8 all day on 20 meters. According to PSKreporter my signal is heard around the entire country daily even with 0 sunspot days and high K index.
I just mounted one of the sticks on my truck's bed lip... going to be testing it out tomorrow.
It's $15, try one out and if one doesn't work, try the dipole setup.. it works like a CHARM. |
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| K6MTS |
Rating:   |
2015-06-26 | |
| Work OK but fragile |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have over a dozen MFJ Ham Tenna's (6m-75m)and also have many of the Mini HF sticks.
While the mini stick performance is marginal, but OK-good when conditions are good, the full size Ham Tenna's actually work quite well.
Here is the problem I have experienced over the last 3 years: 3 of them now have broken near the base. The first one had no spring (MFJ says they don't need one, screw it right to your solid mount). The second 2 broke in the same place, even though I am using a large HD spring between the stick and the solid mount, located on the stout bracket solidly mounted in LR bed rail of my truck.
For a $15 item, it's not worth time/expense to ship to MFJ for 1 yr warranty. Last 2 I have reinforced with with multiple wraps of fiberglass. Time will tell if it stands up.
4 stars for performance but average out to 2 stars due to poor (cheap/thin wall) design. |
|
| SP5RE |
Rating:      |
2014-11-27 | |
| I've never used better than this one |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I've made comparison with outbacker 2000 (multiband antenna with coil and wire jumper). MFJ has given 2 s higher signal; and Diamond BB2M (multiband too) - MFJ has giben 6 s stronger signal.
Using 100 W transceiver I've heard stations from other continents (even ZL). Driving around Poland it was very easy to make a qso with European countries. But ssb conntacts with US, Canada, Korea, Japan, Thailand and others were possible too, even during driving.
The antenna was on the triple magnet, on the van roof, next It has gone to a rear bumper (whole lenght of radiator was over the roof level). It has worked equally good in both places.
I haven't use a wrench to fix it in 3/8 socket so sometimes it has loosen. Tunning the antenna you should not insert radiator into the coil more than 1-2 cm (min lenght, just for fixing the radiator). If you do it, antana stops working. It is better to cut the top than to lower the radiator inserting the lower end into coil.
Now I have 2 years brake with ham radio in the car, but the new tarheel is wailting for comparison with MFJ. |
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