| K0UO |
Rating:  |
2023-10-03 | |
| Fast service |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have owned and installed an number of Tennadyne antennas over the years from T6 to T12s.
What can I say, they just work. No moving parts to go bad and Low SWR on all bands.
Best of all they stand up with the big ice storms we have yearly, out here on the High plains of Kansas.
The new owner is FIVE Stars all the way. He brought me an T6 to a local hamfest, and his son even took it to my truck.
LPDA are not compromised antennas, they are designed for low SWR and gain, which about like a 2 to 3 element beam, and no traps with low wind loading. |
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| WA7ZK |
Rating: |
2021-06-28 | |
| Excellent value and performance for a small LP antenna |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Very pleased with my new T6. I needed a compact and light weight 20 thru 10 meter antenna. I have 30 feet of 55G tower that lays over with a winch. I can service a shorter boom antenna from the ground with this arrangement. The T6 is at 36' with the mast. The gain is the same or slightly better than a used KT34A that I had for a short time. The KT34A had the newer kit but the the capacitor spacers were cracking from the sun exposure. It also does not cover 17 and 12 meters, the T6 does.
I have read criticism of Rog being slow to answer phone and emails. He is a one man show, so be realistic on your expiations' of a instance response. He always got back to me with my questions in a few days. The order took a little longer due to the aluminum shortages, but when he received the stock he needed the antenna was promptly shipped. The kit was complete less the Slipknot clamps (he emailed me that he was not sure they shipped) and missing 2 insulator spacers. I emailed and heard back from Rog the next day that they were on the way. The kit had extra of the smaller hardware, all stainless steel. Every thing fit snugly and was excellently machined. The element to element hardware is screw and nylon nuts.
The antenna meets its 2:1 or less SWR on all ham bands. I had some trouble on 10 meters, it was slightly high on the lower 28 end. I slightly shortened the shorting stub to correct that. The QTH is on the South end of Hawaii Island. There is no ground here, the antenna is over a lava ('a'a) bolder field. I suspect this shifts the antenna resonance upward. This is not a defect of the T6 just peculiar to my QTH.
Very happy with the quality and performance. Rog is looking to retire, I would expect the new owners to raze the prices. I was lucky to be able purchase a bargain.
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| K3SX |
Rating: |
2014-11-04 | |
| Works like a Gotham vertical should have! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I had several pre sale questions. I traded emails with Rog at Tennadyne. He answered promptly and helped me through the selection process. I put it up the day FT4TA started and by the middle of their second day of operations I had RTTY QSOs on 2 bands. It is great to have one rotating antenna for 13-30 MHz. It replaced an ancient tribander and WARC dipole antenna.
The instructions need more pictures to go with the written instructions. |
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| W9DZ |
Rating: |
2013-12-13 | |
| I'm pleased |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
My antenna has been up about a month with no problems. We experienced wind gusts in excess of 80 mph in November. The T6 took the abuse without damage.
It took about 10 days from the time I ordered until delivery. Assembly was fairly smooth. I opted to build my own balun as it seemed the cost of the factory unit was a little high, $59. I followed the instructions in the docs and wound mine on a piece of 3" PVC pipe using Belden RG-8. SWR is somewhat better than stated. I have mine installed on a Heights tower at 60 feet. I can't tell much difference between it and the Mosley CL-33 it replaced. It's nice having the addition of 17 and 12M capability.
The T6 does not come with the SlipNott which helps to prevent the antenna from turning on the mast in high winds. It is standard with the T-8 and above. As shipped the antenna mounts to the boom to mast insulator with two U-bolts. I added a saddle to each U-bolt which I saved from by CL-33. This adds more contact area to the mast which should help to prevent any slip.
I would recommend the T6 to anyone looking for 5-band coverage with fairly low SWR at a reasonable size. |
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| WA0TPN |
Rating: |
2013-10-05 | |
| Excellent |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have been using the Tennadyne T6 for over 10 years now.
The T6 served me well from the top of a 40' tower on a mountain top in Virginia, and now it sits on top of a 30' tower in Iowa and continues to look and work like new.
The T6 has survived several harsh winters that included heavy ice and wind loads.
The T6 is fairly easy to manage during assembly and installation.
I considered that larger T8 but have been happy with having 6-elements. It is doubtful that there would be noticeable performance difference between having 6 or 8 elements and for me the smaller antenna has been easier to manage.
The T6 is an excellent beam antenna that works well on 20-meters and above and will likely continue to give good service for years to come. |
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| XV2PS |
Rating: |
2012-11-26 | |
| Antenna: good; Service: what service? |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Here are my ratings:
Communication: 0/5
I contacted to buy a T6 delivery in XV land, they asked my shipping address, which I sent, then nada. Asked the UK agent to order via them, I was roughly said it made no sense to order from them. Finally I could get it from the Dutch agent shipped over to Belgium and then Fedexed to VN. Still no idea why US would not supply me. However, the Dutch Guy George from GB antenna gets a 5/5 for his communication. He saved me as this was THE log periodic I badly wanted.
Price: 5/5
Price in the US is very good (5/5). The price in EU is quite higher (3/5). Also expensive compared to my previous Titanex log per 7 el. The T6 totaled 963 Euro landing in neighbor Belgium including the choke. Freight of approx 350 Euros to Vietnam, 50 USD import taxes. Total near 1,800USD. A bit painful but acceptable. I consider it more a geographic issue :).
Assembly: 2/5
It costs about nothing to print a few more sketches than very long English sentences. This was the 3rd time I assembled a Log Periodic, which made it easier for me, however, little more sketch little less talk would have been better. Why not an online tutorial/video?
Some tolerances were too narrow, despite intensive use of equivalent WD 40. Extrusion moulds and router bits loose materials time to time, making some tubes hardly fitting in the booms. Same for the splice. However, inverting some similar parts helped.
Hardware: 4/5
All small hardware is top notch. Alu tubing did not seem to be anodized. No idea if 20 microns of anodizing would harm antenna performances though. Maybe to conduct from one tune to the other? Some pipes were really dark gray compared to other shining; However, seeing the general construction, I am confident that this will outlast my previous Titanex. All boom, splices, element fittings look like they could not have been done better from an engineering point of view. Definitely a smart design.
Performance: 5/5
Coming from a Titanex LP7el 20’ boom that lost one side of longest element (but was still full OK from 14 to 29, and swr under 1.4 on all ham bands – go figure out…..), I needed a shorter boom to have more beaming range w/o coming over the neighbors. Fits fine. Gain difference with LP7? Not noticeable; SWR: better than advertised (less than 2): 20M: 1.2; 17m: 1.7; 15m: 1.7; 12m: 1.1; 10m: 1.3.
Conclusion:
At the end of the day, after all the pain, I can enjoy an antenna that deserves a 5, but all easy to fix problems down grade it to 4.
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| KC2KU |
Rating: |
2012-10-07 | |
| Great Antenna |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have had the T6 for three years, up about 33 feet. Being a ham for over 30 years and having antennas such as TA33, TH7, TH5 and Explorer as well as others, I have a fairly good feel for comparing antennas.
Instructions can be confusing, but reading them a couple times takes the mystery, if any, out of it.
The antenna is summary, is a very good antenna. It is well built, having survived over 80 mph winds as well as being loaded with snow and ice. It bends from snow load and moves in the wind, but maintains it shape. And, after three years, looks as new as when put up.
Performance is not the same as some of my bigger antennas, as expected, but it has not lost that much gain. I can honestly say that I work everything I can hear. And, it is really nice to be able to work 20 though 10 without going to another antenna.
The only downside is it has slightly less front to back or side rejection of say a typical 3 element beam. But, I have found this to be a very minor concern. Choosing between working 10-20 meters on one antenna or rejection... I without question would take the T6. Not to mention being fairly light and easy to install.
Dollar for dollar, I would highly recommend this antenna be on your short list if your considering a 3-4 element antenna.
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| F8CGZ |
Rating: |
2010-04-17 | |
| Good deal |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
Hello everyone,
Well i got this antenna, 3 monthes now and it's working great. The antenna is 14 meters hight, I'm using ft 450, versa tuner3 and you need it to tune this antenna. On 20, 17, 15m SWR are ok under 1.5. On 12, 10m SWR =2 or more so... but with tuner system it's SWR = 1.
On 20m this antenna is an equivalent of 2 elements yagi, 17 and 15m it's equivalent of 3 elements and for the rest it's looks like 4 elements yagi.
I made some qrp qso with 10w PEP on 20m with Venezuela, with this antenna and VK stations with 100watts and DX station with pile up. If you want a small logperiodic it's a good choice. Take Care 73 Vincent F8cgz |
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| WA1RC |
Rating: |
2008-12-30 | |
| After 7 years of use |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I've had very good luck with my T6 for the past 7 years. Held up well to the weather, getting caught on a errant tree limb and everything that mother nature threw at it. Only issue was having to repair the balun connections a few years ago. This past month I had to take down the tower and antenna due to a move. After all those years up in the air the antenna looked almost as good as the day I put it up - not quite as shiny but no corrosion and the best part of it all was it came apart as easily as it went together. All the screws and elements were easily removed and packed up to go to the new QTH. I've taken down other antennas and have had to fight to get them apart after this long in the air. |
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| K2VI |
Rating: |
2008-06-22 | |
| Im a believer |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Spoke to bob W4RAA (previous review) on 20 meters.Bob lives in daytona beach florida and im here in virginia beach VA.Bob toggled between a g5rv tuned flat with a height of 42 feet above ground and the t-6 at 38 feet. Well i was impressed. On every test the T-6 was 10 to 12 db stronger than the g5rv. With the g5rv he was a tad over s-9 and with the T-6 15 db over s-9. I dont see how a force 12 antenna could be better than this.The difference was huge.Also bob explained the antenna is hand made and machined super tight and heavy duty materials. No skimping.NO RIVETES to fail and driven element insulators that you can beat with a hammer.After this my ta-33 will be sold to get this awsome antenna. Dont get me wrong my ta-33 is a fine and super strong antenna but traps are a bit lossy and i need to have a tuner in line due to the narrow bandwidth.so im getting robbed thru the antenna tuner and the traps. Now i can put away the tuner and no traps.This has to give me an extra 3 DBD of gain eliminating the traps and tuner. Anyone want a ta-33 cheap.
tony k2vi |
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