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Reviews For: Radioworks Carolina Windom 160 Special

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Radioworks Carolina Windom 160 Special
	Reviews: 3	MSRP: 124.95
	Description: Same size and specs as Carolina Windom 80 but will also cover 160m
	Product is in production
More Info: http://www.radioworks.com/cantspec.html
# last 180 days	Avg. Rating last 180 days	Total reviews	Avg. overall rating
0	0	3	4

KD8QNC	Rating:	2013-07-13
Bottom of the 160m list			Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I first bought a Radio Works Carolina Windom 40m. and had very good results. I bought a medium size amplifier (single 3-500z) and next thing I knew, the balun was fried. I replaced it with a 4:1 Balun of Jerry Sevick W2fmi design and the CW 40 has worked like a champ ever since. I wanted to work a local 160m net one night a week and also wanted something to work on 80m. so I bought the Radio Works Carolina Windom 160 special. I paid very close attention to not use too much power on 160m. as required by the specifications. Well, it got me on the 160m net for about 1 1/2 years then the balun fried on this one. I replaced it with the 4:1 balun mentioned above and now it won't tune 160m. I guess there was some "magic" in the original 160 balun to get, what is essentially an 80m. Carolina Windom to tune 160m at an SWR of about 10:1 I know I paid about $40 more for the CW 160 special than the CW 80 even though everything else appeared identical. If you want to use the CW 160 special, be prepared to put up with high VSWR and very very poor performance on 160. The VSWR is also high on the rest of the bands. In general, my observation is that Carolina Windoms are very broad band (pro), but you pay the price with VSWR of 2:1 and significantly higher on most all of the bands that they're designed to work on. Better have a real horse of a transmatch and be willing not to show off your amp. or you will be replacing baluns left and right. I would never recommend this antenna to anyone.

K4WES	Rating:	2010-06-03
Works quite well			Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had this antenna up for about 10 years now. I don't think they sell it anymore, since I don't see it being sold, like it used to. I have the center up about 40' and the two ends are in two trees about 200' apart. It works well on all bands and mainly I need a tuner for all bands. Sometimes I have to use a manual tuner, since the SWR is too high for my auto tuner. I have a Kenwood TS-2000 rig and run it with 100 watts. Also, it'll work on 6m and 60m. It came with 100' of RG-8 coax. It is much quieter for listening than a G5RV and has a stronger signal for transmitting. It is definitely worth using. 73 de k4Wes

M0VEY	Rating:	2006-11-19
Excellent multibander			Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned this antenna for over 5 years now & thought it was time to do a review. This antenna will TX on 160m but will be at least 2-3 s points down on a dedicated 160m antenna. I homebrewed a Helical for 160m & have great results with this in 60' of garden space. 80m,40m & 20m this antenna works real good. 17m,15m,12m & 10m the antenna will get you on these bands but dedicated antennas will be better here. I paid attention to waterproofing the balun & line isolator & have had no problems so far. I took an old motorcycle inner tube & made it into a kilt/skirt around the balun/line isolator & this seems to help with waterproofing. I have the antenna 40' high, pulled up to the top of my 40' fibreglass flagpole in the corner of my garden.I also grounded the antenna where the feed goes into the line isolator. I have a 3' copper hot water tank buried 4' in the ground & attached to the earth system along with counterpoise wires for every band. The background noise level is quite low on this antenna & with the earth system I have, which also includes four 4' copper earth rods buried at the base of my flagpole the antenna is good on RX as wellas TX. Sometimes I struggle pulling stations out on my Topband helical & find if I switch to the windom I can hear them. To sum this antenna up I would have to say it makes a great multi-band compromise antenna. If you don't use 160m much the CW80 might save you a few pennies. I was lucky to buy this at a time when they were less than £100 If you see a decent used one at a decent price, grab it. You will not be dissapointed as long as you follow the installation instructions properly. I also feed mine with 165' of RG213 & it provides a good match on all bands when used with an onboard atu. Any questions please feel free to e-mail me. m0vey@aol.com Regards, Phil. m0vey

Category:

Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

Product:

Radioworks Carolina Windom 160 Special

Summary:

Rating:	Time Owned:
Great! Good OK Needs Help Poor Awful!	0 - 3 Months 3 - 6 Months 6 - 12 Months More than 12 Months

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