Manager


Manager - NA4M
Manager Notes

Reviews For: Tonna F9FT 20809 2m 9 Element Yagi Antenna

Category: Antennas: VHF/UHF+ Directional (Yagi, quad, etc.)

eMail Subscription

Registered users are allowed to subscribe to specific review topics and receive eMail notifications when new reviews are posted.
Review Summary For : Tonna F9FT 20809 2m 9 Element Yagi Antenna
Reviews: 6MSRP: 54.95GBP
Description:
A 9 element yagi for 2mtrs,with N type connector.144-146 Mhz.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.f9ft.com/indexe.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0064
DL9BDM Rating: 2022-09-02
If they still were available today I would buy them again Time Owned: more than 12 months.
At the beginning of my VHF career as a young HAM in the 1980s I had this antenna with a TV rotator on top of the roof. I made my first DX achievements on 2 meters with it. Later, I stacked two on top of each other, which resulted in an excellent vertical radiation pattern. Finally I replaced the 9 elements by a single 17 elements F9FT (see my review there), which is still in good use today.

Unfortunately I sold this 9 elements F9FT's long time ago - which was a wrong decision, because actually I could use it for my smaller spaced second QTH. Also very bad from today's point of view, because this antenna is no longer available new, since after the death of the last owner Franck J. Tonna, F5SE, Tonna Antennes sadly ceased production end of 2017. Franck was the son of Marc Tonna, F9FT, who passed away in 2003.

Afterwards we are always smarter.

Regarding the quality, everything that M0BTZ already said in the previous review I can confirm.
M0BTZ Rating: 2012-07-29
A good lightweight compact yagi compromise for 144MHz Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The Tonna 9ele yagi is a good, compact lightweight yagi which performs very well for its boom length.

Good points are:-

1) Cheap to buy (Used to be!)
2) Good performance.
3) Reasonably rugged.
4) Portable version makes an excellent /P antenna - Quick to assemble!
5) Lightweight design

However it is not perfect, and has a few build quality problems :-

1) The driven element plastic can start to with age. Don't expect them to last forever. Fortunately, replacement driven elements are available.

2) Be very carefull not to over do the screw holding the driven element - it is all too easy to strip the threads in the plastic moulding.
I wish that tonna would use a threaded brass insert here (moulded to the plastic), as this would be a very easy improvement to make to the design.

3) There is no way to tune the driven element.

I used some fishing line to provide some support to the front and back of the yagi to help prevent it from sagging too much.

With carefully maintanence, this yagi should last for many years. I have always found the lightweight design of the tonna to be helpfull for reducing wind-loading, and the weight on the rotator.

With a relatively sheltered QTH the Tonna is fine for everyday QSO's, but if you are in a very exposed QTH where corrosion is a problem, and you run QRO then I would suggest that might want to make the extra investment consider a Cushcraft or M2 yagi instead.

The 11 ele Tonna is a slightly better built antenna (has supporting arms), and a longer boom length but I dont always have the room to use it, hence the 9ele does comes in usefull occasionally.

For the average amateur making everyday QSO's it works very well and does the job. There are however better built yagi's available for DX working, but for more $$$.
GW8JLY Rating: 2012-03-12
Cheap to buy, easy to assemble and good performance Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is my third 2m 9 element Tonna yagi used over a 38 year span on the 2m band. My 9 element yagis were not used continuously but were used here at the start of my Ham career and during the last 6 years of operating. In between these years, I used a Tonna 13 element yagi which lasted for 20 years or so before corrosion in the joining clamps took hold and the rear of the antenna parted company from the rest of the boom. The 13 element was replaced by a 2nd 9 element and this antenna was on the mast for 5 years. This aerial suffered from the droop mentioned by previous reviewers. Unfortunately this droop was not noticed until it was erected on a stub mast way above my roof by an aerial erection team - There is no way that I would go on to the roof to complete this task at my age. Despite the droop, the antenna performed resonably but not perfectly and when the rotator need replacing 5 years later, I decided to change the aerial, the coax and rotator at the same time. After much research I decided to buy the PRO-XL version of the 2m Tonna 9 element as this antenna was so much stronger than the standard version. This was a super aerial and for 3 months I was really pleased with it's ruggedness and it's performance... but towards the end of December 2011, the SWR shot up to greater than 3 to 1 and the aerial was unusable. Another visit from the erection team was necessary to take this aerial down and replace it with a new standard Tonna 9 element to ensure that I could still operate on my favourite band, 2m. Investigation of the PRO-XL on the ground showed a manafacturing error - a wire in the connection box from the bottom of the Balun coil was set to close to the coil and had shorted across the coil. This antenna was returned to the supplier. Before the new standard 9 element yagi was put up, to ensure that the boom would not droop when in the air, I inserted two parallel aluminium tubes inside the front and rear sections of the beam at the join (approximately 15 inches long). This worked perfectly and now the antenna is on the mast, the boom is perfectly straight with no trace of droop. I recommend that if you are to use the standard 9 element Tonna, this or an alternative method to prevent droop is completed before the antenna is erected.
As I am very interested in meteor scatter QSOs, I ensured that there was a few degrees (around 5 degrees) of elevation on the antenna when it was placed on the mast. This configuration works well and I have been astounded with the success on MS that I have obtained from such a compartively small aerial. The aerial also works very well on all other forms of propagation (tropo,aurora etc.). I decided, without hesitation to award the max 5 points to this antenna while writing this review but note however that I strongly recommend that you employ some means of avoiding droop before you erect the antenna.
G4TRA Rating: 2010-07-09
Light and rugged Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Just thought I would comment as my 9 element Tonna has now been in use for some 27 years and that's good for any antenna! Yes the design is deliberately light weight but this reduces strain on the rotator and reduces windage too. Mine, first purchased in 1983, started life as a 9XY, but now has just the horizontal elements fitted. As with all my antennas I wrap self amalgamating tape around the driven element insulated moulding to reduce the effect of ultra violet, coat them in clear varnish and use a lightweight nylon support tie to alleviate droop. Coax feed tubes are well sealed with silicon. I am currently on my third driven element, but the boom and other elements are all original. The antenna usually comes down every three years for maintenance and as such I thoroughly recommend this antenna, especially if you take care to install in and maintain it regularly.
G7TPL Rating: 2008-02-12
flimsy Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
just about sums it up.light quality aluminium,and a stupid idea for a mast clamp.
OK,for that sort of money,what do you expect,really??
is it cheap and cheerful??
cheap it is,certainly,but not so cheerful when you are picking bits of it out of next-doors garden.
it hasn't snapped yet,but it will,so it is being replaced by a cushcraft 13b2
MI3IYA Rating: 2006-11-12
Build quality extremely poor! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This product was my first VHF Directional Antenna,so I did'nt know what to expect.Firstly the product was well packed,the boom coming in two pieces,and all the hardware was packed in sealed bags.There was also an N type plug included.Building the Antenna did'nt take very long and this was where the first problem occured.The Driven Element is held on the boom by means of a steel self-tapping screw,with a moulded plastic wing-nut on top.On tightening of this screw the plastic 'top' came of in my hand,and I was putting very little pressure on it.I managed to tighten it with the help of a screwdriver.

Once the antenna was built up,I then mounted it on my rotators mast.The supplied clamp has a flat plate at the top,and another piece of flat plate lines up with this.Two bolts then go through these pieces of flat plate,and the boom is fed through from either side,meeting at the centre of the flat plate.The bolts are then tightened together clamping the boom in place.After doing this there was a distinct sag on the part of the boom holding the driven element and the reflector,about 2 inches of a drop from centre toward the reflector.I then had to take the antenna down and put a piece of 1 inch diameter solid round bar about 15 inches long inside the boom to take up the sag.Once I did this the antenna was fine.

Apart from the build quality this antenna seems to work very well.On my first evening of use there was some lift conditions on 2mtrs,and I worked a G4 who was 400+ miles away giving him a 57 report on SSB.When I quickly switched to my Diamond V-2000 tri-band vertical the same station was not heard at all!!I also worked an EI5 station almost 250 miles away straight after this and the same applied.Bear in mind that both stations were beaming in my direction.I received a 55 report from both of these stations and I was only using 10watts of output power.

As a first directional antenna I am pleased enough but would advise you to buy a Cushcraft or M2 instead.I certainly will.For the asking price the antenna is ok but build quality lets this otherwise fine antenna down a bagfull.Hope this helps you make up your mind!!73 de Mickey-MI3IYA.

PS-I have emailed this reveiw to Tonna.Will reveiw again after some more on air experience,and some good old Irish storms!!