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Reviews For: Tennadyne T8 Log Periodic

Category: Antennas: HF: Yagi, Quad, Rotary dipole, LPDA

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Review Summary For : Tennadyne T8 Log Periodic
Reviews: 37MSRP: 788
Description:
8 element 13 to 32 MHz Log Periodic on 18' boom
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.tennadyne.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00374.7
KB5OK Rating: 2010-12-06
awsome Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought my T-8 in the summer of 2003. It was a chore to put together,the manual wasn't much help. I put the first 3 elements together backwards & had to re-do. I was using Cushcraft A-4,a strong signal on the A-4 would be 20 db. When I put up the T-8 I started getting 40 db sinals. The reason I got one: I was talking to three guys in the Sidney, Australia area one evening & two of them were running a kilowatt on yagi antennas. The other was running 100 watts on the T-8 & he was louder than the two running the power. A guy in Israel had a pretty good pileup going & I said to my wife who was sitting nearby "watch this" I threw my call out there & he came right to me, we exchanged info like he had done with the others & then he said "I would like to take a moment to tell you how very loud & clear you are in Israel this mourning" my wife said "how about that". I don't run any power {just 200 watts from my Yaesu FT-1000 D}. I used to run linears of different types, but realized with this beam, I don't need them any more. Buy the T-8 you will be glad you did, & get ready for a lot of DX. I had mine mounted at 60 ft.
W6MQI Rating: 2010-10-22
Great antenna Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
What can I say the thing just works SWR is no more than 1:2 20m -17m, 1:3 on 15m, 1:7 on 12m, 1:2-1:5 with a little spike right at 28.000 Mhz of 2:0. I have a cushcraft 5 element 6 meter yagi mounted 10’ above the T-8 everything appears to be working just fine. The only thing I changed from the plans was the mounting of the balun I fed my T-8 per W8JI suggestions on feeding LP’s check his web page out it’s very informative.
I give the Tennadyne T-8 a 5 for manufacturing quality, packaging, and performance, but customer service well….I’ll let them squeak by with a 3. If your thinking of purchasing one of these beast you won’t be sorry for the money it’s hard to beat.

73, Dave
N0AH Rating: 2010-05-22
3rd LP, 1st T-8 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Well, what can I tell you- Awesome!!!!

Replacing A3S with 40M to T-8 and 40M RTD. Wanted 12/17 coverage with some gain.

Pre-dawn- Took two hours to count inventory and separate out parts- loved the
way hardware was identified and organized- first class!

Day 1: Boom construction took me 6 hours.....very relaxing time as all parts
were there and I was able to get a hold of Rog right away on 1 minor correction
in manual- He sent me a PDF manual and it was all FB! On the B-2 boom, I had to
use a soft rubber mallet to tap in the 4th boom elements (2nd on B2) but was no
problem using WD-40 and graphite. Manual stated to expect some tight fits so I
was prepared-

Day 2: Finished antenna in 5 more hours- took time and noticed I forgot to
tighten up a couple of nuts- used drill bit to screw in most hardware but always
hand tightened to finish. Had one bolt seize up on the mounting plate, easy
replacement at Home Depot- forgot to grease it up as manual suggested- whoops!
I had to soft mallet in the second set of elements going into the first B1 boom
elements. This took a bit more time but worked out- just took my time, used a
lot of graphite, WD-40 and softly tapped with rubber mallet- I think the heat of
the day caused some expansion- it was 80 degrees and full sunshine during this
construction phase- antenna parts were hot to the touch-

Mounting: Used a boom truck to bring up to place on my 19 foot Glen Martin
Tower. K0EX is a fb tower artist and had no problem with an amazing boom truck
operator from a local tree service company- I know, you are wondering about the
cost of a boom truck, priceless! Pd $125 for service call and $75 for one man
hours, figured in 15 minute increments. Truck only had one guy, so it took us 1
1/2 hours to remove A3S and AR270 and replace with 40M RTD and T-8. No one got
hurt, antennas all ended up undamaged- and talk about fun! Need a tower expert,
call K0EX! Good horse trader-

Initial SWR Tests: Using a Cal-Av 1:1 balun on the 40M dipole, I was 1.3:1 at
resonance- no effect noticed with T-8 here- On the T-8, some wavy SWR curves
as expected. Used Rog's Collins balun. Taped coax under bottom boom as
instructed. I expected higher average SWR's on 20M and lower on 10M. Lowest SWR
on 20M 1.3:1 with max SWR on 20M at 1.6:1- unexpected! and fb!! Best band SWR
wise was 12M, with flat SWR covering most BW, cool stuff-. SWR was between 1.3
to 1.7 everywhere else except 15M. I ranged from 1.5-2.2 here. Maybe the 40M RTD
was being coupled by the T-8 here but I'll never know- The 40M RTD went on
first- I can tune the antenna flat anywhere with Pro III's A/T. And OMG, 2.2,
I'm falling over- hihi..........

After finishing and measuring SWR near feed point, went to the shack. F/B on
listening to a few stateside stations with around 15-20 db but F/S is nothing
less than amazing- All I can say is I was listening to a guy in TX rag chewing
on 20M CW who was S-9 and went into the noise when I turned the beam 90 degrees
on him, then he went up to S-4 on the back-side.

Compared to the T-6's I have used over the years, the T-8 just seems to have a
lot better band-width due to lower resonant points. With the 40M RTD's element
parallel with the T-8 boom, and only separated by 4 1/2 feet, I was very glad to
see minimal if any real measurable coupling.

Once we ever get sunspots again, I can't wait to report how the antenna is doing
with DX and contests. My initial impression is that I am glad I followed all of
the suggestions from Tennadyne on the feedline, and feel the T-8 will be a good
performer. Biggest surprise is that the SWR was a lot better than I expected,
all things considered. Antenna is about 40 feet high, from ground to mast
attachment, and is on a Glen Martin 18 foot roof tower. The only down side to
this building project was the tight fit on a few of the elements. It was a bit
stressful but no harm, no foul..tight tolerences on the joints and building things in heat, you might have to play a bit to get everything to fit-.....everything fit and using WD-40 and graphite
worked out. A good one person project to build, but would suggest a lot of
preparation and help for putting up the tower-

I did get a PE report on using the T-8 on the Glen Martin tower- all fb!

73 Paul N0AH
KB9WL Rating: 2010-04-26
Great Antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
With a little help from a hamBud, I reflected upon my scoring of the T8 - I should have given it a "5". I also failed to mention some major positives as well. The Tennadyne metal work was superb. You have to see the kit of parts to realize just how many precision holes had to be drilled and how many parts had to be fabbed to the proper dimension. Mine were all perfect. The fit was superb as well. This antenna is a great value with darn good performance.

We had great prop this past weekend and I snagged 9 new countries, including some elusive weak signal stations, using the T8 -- it was though the T8 was telling me..."Look Jack, you think I'm only a "4"...I'll show your grayHeaded potBellied hinie what a real antenna can do".

My swr's were all 1.5 or less, f/b and side rejection were good. Band-changing no longer requires a button push or a switch throw. DX chasing is enhanced. Probably the best thing about this antenna design is it's utter simplicity -- having had to repair various antennas over the years, this antenna should be really low maint. :)
K9ZW Rating: 2010-04-24
Exceptional Antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My T-8 has been up a bit over five years and for 20-6m has been an exceptional performer.

Mechanically simple, no moving parts, study, and excellent DX performance.

I've mounted a T-28 12 ft above the T-8 without issue.

No not expect to change this antenna for anything else.

Picture and my full wrote up at: http://k9zw.wordpress.com/2008/02/10/repost-tennadyne-antennas/


73

Steve
K9ZW
WE8Q Rating: 2009-11-04
What more could I ask for? Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I recently upgraded from the Tennadyne T-6 which I really enjoyed. My T-8 has flat SWR across the entire range of this antenna. Great support from Tennadyne. It does not get any better than this!
WB7TXG Rating: 2008-11-06
Excellent Antenna! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Ordered from Tennadyne and received my new T8 in about 5 days. Packaging, manual, etc was all complete. Assembly was straight forward ( I had read several articles and saw some pictures ) that greatly helped me assemble the antenna. Took about 2 hours to accomplish assembly.

Taped coax to lower boom and used colins type coax balun. Antenna is at 42 feet. SWR on 10,12,14,18,21,28 bands are all well below 1.5 with very nice bandwidth.

First contact was to Taiwan. I am impressed! Would I buy this antenna again? Yes. Replaced two trap 3 element beams with this log periodic and I am thoroughly convinced I made the right purchase!
W2CXX Rating: 2008-05-15
GREAT ANTENNA! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
THIS ANTENNA IS THE BEST ONE I HAVE EVER USED IN MY 55 YEARS AS A HAM. THE PERFORMANCE IS EXTREMELY GOOD ON ALL BANDS (WHEN OPEN?!) BUT ON 20 MTRS, IT IS A DX HOUND, EVEN WITH 100 WATTS. I HAVE TO CONCUR WITH THE CRITICISM OF THE ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS BY OTHERS. I FINALLY IGNORED THEM AND USED THE PICTURES, GETTING IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME. WOULD I BUY ANOTHER? ABSODAMLUTELY!
IW4EMV Rating: 2008-03-05
I don't understand... Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
just few words to tell TENNADYNE T8 is a BIG GUN !!!
it really works GREAT widely from 13 to 30 MHz! no traps, no tuning...
...and it's also very beautiful!

see pictures of my installation:
http://www.arifidenza.it/soci_iw4emv.asp

...I don't understand why the majority of the world HAM community usually despise Log Periodic Dipole Array solutions....... ???

vote:5
W4LWY Rating: 2008-02-22
Great Value Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The Tennadyne T8 Log Periodic is what I call the "real deal". Works great and built to last. Roger is a very helpful guy and he'll do what he says!

73,

W4LWY