Manager


Manager - NA4M
Manager Notes
Reviews Home

Reviews For: SandPiper "V" RANGE MKIII

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

eMail Subscription

Registered users are allowed to subscribe to specific review topics and receive eMail notifications when new reviews are posted.
Review Summary For : SandPiper "V" RANGE MKIII
Reviews: 4MSRP: from 65GBP up to 195GBP
Description:
Vertical multiband, versions from 3 bands up to 9 (all versions can be upgraded from single band to 9 band).
20 Mtr approx 13'-6" high
40 Mtr approx 14'-6" high
80 Mtr approx 15'-6" high
160 Mtr approx 19'-6" high
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.sandpiperaerials.co.uk/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0044.3
G1MQQ Rating: 2015-08-12
Amazing performance Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
In a perfect world I wouldn't have bought this antenna. BUT

a) I'm past my 'best by' date

b) In poor health

c) No garden long enough for wire antenna

d) On a pension and broke !

When my 3rd chimney stack mounted Cushcraft MA5V broke in a winter gale I had a dilemma. I don't do ladders and chimney stacks any more and couldn't afford the 350+ gbp replacement cost, so I took a chance on the ground mounted Sandpiper V3+2 at a third of the price

It's mounted 18 inches from the ground 2 feet from a wall. I have run about a dozen random counterpoise wires between the gaps in the crazy paving on the 'patio'

April 2015 worked VK5CE/P
June 2015 worked VK3WWE

200W SSB 20m both 59 each way

That will do for me

Not too happy with the way the resonators for the various bands are attached hence only 4/5

It's no substitute for stacked yagis,cubical quads or stepIR's on 70ft towers halfway up the Rockies but then some of us have to live in the real world of the UK.


MM3XXW Rating: 2008-05-25
Sandpiper V9 Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Due to limited space I've treid one or two HF verticals but by far the most superior is my Sandpiper V9, coverage 160-10m.
It's extremely well built, easy to erect & tune, quite unobtrusive and (for the coverage) great value for money. It's a great base antenna and even for portable work this one would take less than 1/2 an hour to set up and get 'on-air'.

Mine is mounted 15" off the ground at the base of some Laurel trees, which provide some shielding from the strong North Sea winds, grounded via a 2m earth-rod roughly 6m asl and around 55m from the shore. It's been my main HF antenna for over 2 years and, personally, I can't rate it high enough.
If your looking for total HF coverage on a budget you won't go far wrong with this piece of kit coming in at around 195GBP
G6KIZ Rating: 2008-02-07
Suits my needs Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought the 5 band model 80-40-20-15-10

It fitted my requirements perfectly for a discrete low visibility antenna. I'll probably be painting it later in the year to blend in even better.

I can't expect brilliant performance both because of size and where I've positioned it - hidden close to a tree and some bushes. I've laid only 16 radials which is also a compromise but some do reach out to a chain mesh fence which surrounds the plot and I soldered those to the fence - I've no idea if that will help or not though to be honest. So far I've heard little in the way of DX but that's maybe due more to lack of time than any definite problem.

The design is quite crafty - basically the equivalent of a few base loaded sections such as might be used mobile mounted near the top of a two section tube of around 3m. The 10m section is a seperate wire. I found that the 80m section which screws into a bush at the top of the main vertical tube was not a good solid fix - it "knocks" slightly when shaken. I did not bother to complain about this and will try to fix the problem myself later.

Tuning was fairly easy with an analyser - some sections were way too long with mine so it could be a little trickier with only an swr meter. Both 80m and 40m have a very limited bandwidth as should probably be expected from the design. With a tuner the whole of both bands can easily be covered but with probably considerable feeder loss due to the mismatch. In fact my tuner can also load it on the WARC bands but I don't know at what efficiency cost. If I find them useful I'll probably just buy the extra sections - more than likley after spending weeks trying to cobble something up myself and failing. As the design is a DC open circuit I added a bleed resistor directly across the feed point as I have seen sparks across the feedline on other verticals of a similar size in the past.
EA5XQ Rating: 2007-05-13
Ideal for restricted locations Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I got V4+3 (4 bands+ 3 WARC) antenna a month ago. Although I have not finished with the adjustments (in order to avoid using the tuner, or at least as less as possible) I'm very happy with the antenna. Easy to build and easy to put up-and-running. Well made and above all a superb post-sales service from them (Sandpiperaerials), every question or doubt is replied very promptly and very professionally.
It is ideal for places where it is not easy to install big-guns. FOr grounding, you need to use or spike or random radials (I also included the MFJ931 Artificia Ground inside home to reduce the RF in the RadioShack).
I'll follow testing it...