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Reviews For: Radio Works Carolina Windom 80

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Radio Works Carolina Windom 80
Reviews: 85MSRP: 89.95
Description:
Multi-band wire antenna with increasing gain vs frequency
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.radioworks.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
15854.1
KJ4DX Rating: 2005-12-26
Solid Antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
All grouching aside -- wire antennas are wire antennas. Their reliable performance comes at the price of trying to string them up between the twigs and leaves. If you buy one, know that this is what you're looking at. Once you get this antenna up the way you want, it will perform like crazy. I've have great luck with mine, as well as mucho 80m DX and solid performance running 1500 watts. Works for me.
KF8RX Rating: 2005-10-07
Hurricane Proof! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
If you want only one antenna and have room for a wire, this is the one.

Mine's been up for two years and survived hurricanes, hail, wind and very heavy rain. Just be sure to water proof it as shown in the fun to read documentation.

My 75 meter dipole outperforms it but I don't take advantage of the low angle radiation. All my contacts are in the eastern US.

The SWR is low on all bands. It takes high power without problems. I run it a 1500 watts with no problem. Even if I'm slow to tune up my commander, it never complains.



Eric
K4QS Rating: 2005-09-11
Great QRP Dessert Antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is a great performing all band wire antenna BUT......

After a year, the top balun (mystery transformer) took on water like the Titanic. OK, I forgot to seal the thing up as per the instructions, but the water drain hole was found plugged with RTV on the inside.

Up goes the replacement. A few low power QSOs and all is well. Up goes the power to 500W for a CW DX pileup and up in smoke goes the mystery transformer. The once clear drain hole is again plugged with RTV. I think I know what happened to the first one now.

I can't afford a new antenna each QSO. I'm going back to my time proven homebrew wire antennas.
N6MD Rating: 2005-09-09
Incredible! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I'm lucky to have two tall trees on my property about 130 feet apart. The trees are about 60 feet tall, so I used an antenna launcher to get ropes up in the trees and strung the CW80 between the two trees about 45 feet off the ground.

I run about 600 watts using a Yaesu Mobile Rig and an 811-H linear. From here in CA I have worked SSB phone as far as Mongolia to the west and Italy to the east on 20m. I can easily cover all states west of the Mississippi on 75 meters and have worked as far as HI and NY. One station about 800 miles north of me asked me what I was running and told me that I was the loudest signal he had ever heard on 75 meters -- maybe it was one perfect bounce.

There does seem to be some directionality in line with the antenna (not perpendicular as with a dipole). In the direction that the antenna is pointed, people rave about my signal. In the other directions, they are also very impressed.

I don't think I could have found a better antenna for my situation, and Geez... $105? How could I have done any better?

Soon I will buy a second one to keep on the shelf in reserve as a backup.
KM5WX Rating: 2005-08-02
Great Ant and service Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Well after thorough waterproofing and easy installation my first contact from here in Ms. was CT2ITR with a 59+ report I thought that seemed pretty good. Until my second contact with CY0AA on Sable Island and broke the pileup on my second call with a 59 + 10 report now I was impressed considering I tried to make contact on my dipole first and couldn't! Granted 2 good contacts does not a spectacular antenna make but I think my future use will be as productive as my former! Jim and the gang at Radioworks were great to work with. Prompt delivery and great packaging. Ant seems to be of excellent construction!
N4RAP Rating: 2005-07-28
Great Antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
See my review if the Carolina Windom 160. This thing is just as great. Both the CW 80 and the CW 160 are tunable with any MFJ antenna tuner and with the auto tuners in my Yaesu's and Kenwoods...with no problems whatsoever. I have also been able to tune with the older and slower auto tuners in the TS 940 and the FT 757GX and the FT 767GX. Believe it or not, I am also able to use the Yaesu FL 7000 on ALL bands with both of the CW 80 and the CW 160 antennas with no problems and no malfunctions. Both of my antennas are in trees making contact with the trees and I am blowing people out of there seats!

73
N4RAP
Paris, Texas
KC2JBB Rating: 2005-03-30
quite satisfied Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I added this to my antenna farm, my other antennas being verticals and a horizontal wire loop. My impression is that it is well made and sturdy. It hears better than my other antennas. There is a little more QRM but that comes with the territory. I am heard quite well, but I never expected this to be a directional beam. I agree with others that the vertical radiator portion of the antenna seems to give me access to DX that I would'nt have otherwise. The antenna has been up through some pretty bad storms this winter without mishap.

Oh, and BTW, very helpful people on the other end of the phone.
ON4UQ Rating: 2005-03-16
after-sales service Time Owned: more than 12 months.
it was badly starten...
I had erected my CW80 in place of my inverted Vees for 80 & 40, atop a 18 meters steel tower, second hand purchased from the ground-train radio network of the Belgian Railways.
I received mainly industrial noise and the results were so poor that I decided to coil the CW80 back and forget it in the attic...
In facts, the apex angle was far too shrap, something like 90° in lieu of 120° max as recommended...

Then came the need of an emergency aerial. With no hope, I raised the "wire" back, in another configuration.
The day after, I received a 599-report from VK's and ZL's with 50 Watt out a FT7-B and a poor propagation...

One year later, I got a main balun failure: the SWR suddenly raised just as if the balun were "arcing".
I have to point out here the excellent after-sales service and analytical cooperation I received from Jim, W4THU. After performing many tests and discussing the results with Jim, I decided to replace the defective balun by a 6/1 "panzer" one made somewhere in ex-USSR.
The nice results came back. An x-rays photograph showed the ferrite rod was broken in 4 parts. Radioworks refunded me the price of the defective part.

Don't listen to the bells and whistles you will read in the documentation. Just raise it and go on the air: the CW80 is a GREAT aerial radiating at low angle on the 8 higher bands, WARC included!
KW4N Rating: 2005-02-13
Poor performer vs cost Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Been comparing this antenna to a 133' multi-band, wire antenna center-fed with open-wire transmission line for over two years. No instrumentation was used other than the ability of each antenna on A-B testing to dig a weak signal out of the mud. As expected, it does not compare favorably because coax transmission line is more lossy than open wire feeders plus the additional losses of the two baluns. On long haul DX the so-called "vertical radiator" added nothing. In fact, at one point I had a 40 meter sloper that did better on 40, especially late at night.
The only advantage this antenna may have is if it's off-center fed configuration accomodates your tie points.
My antenna had poorly wrapped ends and two cold solder joints that had to be 'rehabilitated.' As some others have complained, I too found water in one of the balun's not long after it was firt erected.
From a cost standpoint, this is a sellers profit delight, but a buyers mistake when you can build a better antenna for less than 20% of the cost.
W2ST Rating: 2005-02-02
A very fine wire antenna, and outstanding service Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My Carolina Windom 80 has been up between two trees for 3 years, and has been abused by the weather (snow, ice and winds) and by me (excess power, and it has worked unfailingly well all that time.

The antenna hears very well on all bands, and I have never missed a DX contact -- even in the pileups -- on 15 or 20.

The quality of the antenna is just fine, and service -- both technical and sales -- is personalized and outstanding.