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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
K7XDX Rating: 2002-02-19
Good price great performance Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I returned to ham radio after a 20-year absence. I selected the Carolina Windom 80 as my main antenna. I based the selection on reviews, price and advertised performance. The antenna has performed very well and has been easy to load on all advertised bands. I worked over 30 countries my first few months on 100 watts with excellent reports. I had the antenna built with insulated wire as it is strung though many trees, tough construction and good build quality. I now have a 4 element tribander for the main at 65 feet and often the Windom performs as well if the QTH is aligned with the strong lobes of the 80. I had great customer service both before and after the sale, the instructions are very well done leaving little to guess about. If you value your time, and want a great performer I recommend this rig.

KA7GLI Rating: 2002-01-07
Decent Out-of-the-box Multi-Band Antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought a used CW-80 and have had it up in the air for about 2-months now.
The antenna is mounted at an average ht of about 45 feet above ground.
I replaced the original stranded copper wire (looks like 14 ga.) with stranded 13 ga. insulated wire. Also all connections were soldered and heat-shrink tubing applied. End insulators, baluns, are original.
The on-the-air performance of the antenna seems to match up with a standard 80-meter doublet fed with open-ladder line, as far as hearing other stations. Gain figures for the antenna are comparable to a doublet, except the radiation angles appear to be different, per the published information from Radio Works.
The big advantage seems to be it's low SWR across the ham bands, except for 17 meters, were SWR's were read near 3:1. Otherwise, the SWR's fell below 2.1:1 on all other bands, which is tunable with the internal auto tuner in my xcvr.
Bottom line: Homebrew version of a Windom antenna might save you some money - otherwise this is a good "out-of-box" antenna.
WF0H Rating: 2001-12-11
Worth the $$$ Time Owned: more than 12 months.
OK, the truth is, this commercial Windom does not work as well as one that I built out of QST years ago. However, I've had it up for more than 10 years with only one failure that was easily repaired - and this is in severe ice country, too. The homebrew was a real champ, but it didn't survive its first SS contest. The CW80 is literally 'wrapped' around my yard to get it to fit, and still vastly outperforms my vertical.
This is a very quiet antenna. I'm not a big DXer, so those seeking 5BDXCC QRP probably better look elsewhere, but for domestic stuff, it's a great skyhook.
AK8I Rating: 2001-12-11
COAX strain relief? Time Owned: more than 12 months.
It is imperative to properly install the coax strain relief on CW antennas.(or any other for that matter). Perhaps some complaints are related to this issue. The manual is VERY explicit on this.
G4VGO Rating: 2001-11-04
Great Hype, Crap Antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Having been a guest operator at stations in three countries with the Carolina Windom 80, don't waste your money. A very poor product that uses questionable engineering in its design. In all three cases we took it down and replaced it with a better piece of wire (at a BIG savings in cost)!

Stick to a G5RV, or twin feed a flat top wire off centre with your antenna matching unit.

The Windom 160 is a BIG JOKE.

In this case, feed your dummy load and get the same results.
AB0QN Rating: 2001-11-03
Carolina Widom 80-Overated and Overpriced! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I actually have the Carolina Windom 160 Special which is touted as working on 160 meters, but otherwise is the same as the Carolina Windom 80. Well, I can barely be heard on 160, but do better on 10-80 meters. Radioworks talks really big about their wire antennas. Well let me tell you that their customer service is a joke. They sent me this antenna with the wire cut, and when I called to complain one of the guys I talked to treated me like a troublemaker, accused me of cutting the wire, and called me an idiot with the phone away from his mouth. I asked to speak to the manager and she refused to apologize for the poor customer service and then made me pay for return shipping. I then emailed the owner, Jim, 3 separate times and asked him to call or email me concerning his employees behavior and he would not email or call me. This antenna is no better than a g5rv so don't waste your money on it. It is a real "dog" on 10 and 12 meters. There are other companies that sell basically the same configuration for a lot less money, so I would suggest you look elsewhere. Also, if you want to make one of these, you can buy the baluns from Palomar and get similar results. I also bought some connectors from them and they were the cheapest quality I have ever seen. My suggestion, don't buy from Radioworks because they are selling poor quality at high prices with lousy customer service.
N2EME Rating: 2001-10-15
Great Wire Antenna Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
What a Great Antenna!! I have had mine up for several months now,and i am really impressed with it's performance.I can tune it to 1:5 to 1 or less(usually less),On 80-10 meters with a manual tuner No problem.I make plenty of DX and domestic contacts with it.Quality of construction is very good.And what's really amazing is that i have mine mounted with one leg running east and the other north.With the vertical portion between a bunch of trees.(yeah baby).Two thumbs up.!!
N4CQR Rating: 2001-10-15
Very Good Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have used this antenna for 2 years mounted 3 feet (to close) off the side of a 30-foot tower with excellent results. Due to some construction
the tower had to came down. Installed the CW80 off of a tree limb at about 19 foot (way to low) with 30% of the long leg running back under itself (another no-no) and it still works fine. Darn good product, well made and priced right. No complaints from me.
W4WTE Rating: 2001-09-19
Good Antenna Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I have had this antenna for several months and am pleased with it. It does need a tuner as stated in the specs, but mine resonates nicely on 40 (from 7.0 to 7.15 less than 1.5 -1) and a 50 Khz or so at the bottom of 80 meters without a tuner. It is in a flat top configuration at 65 feet. It does out perform the 40 meter dipole it replaced by a mile. On other bands it performs equal to or better than a dipole. It is a nice antenna for the warc bands. One way to cover a lot of ground in good style without having a yard full of wires. I have ran a KW through it with no problems. Can't beat it for the price and performance.
GM0FQV Rating: 2001-02-17
Deserves Top Marks!!!! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Since 1994, I have bought nine of these antennas, working as 9G1BJ. People were so impressed by it's performance, I often bought a new one on my occasional visits back to GM, and gift it to them on my return to Africa. Mine allowed me to work around 80,000 contacts, outside those worked on my two beams. In 1996, I was World No5 in the CQWW, single op, all bands, using the Carolina Windom. Wait for this..........I have even worked 37 Countries on 6mtrs with it!!!!!!!!!!!
It was also used on VHF / 2mtrs......incredible!
So, need I say any more about it? I decided to try out the new shortened version - 66ft long x 10ft vertical, but this one requires a very precise length of feeder to make it happy to radiate on 80mtrs. Next week will see the delivery of my new Carolina Windom - 160-10mtrs.

73's,

John GM0FQV