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Reviews For: TAK-tenna

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

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Review Summary For : TAK-tenna
Reviews: 155MSRP: $278. USD
Description:
High-frequency antenna for 3 to 30 MHz., inclusive

TAK-tenna is Unique and has been awarded U.S. Patent.

Radiating elements use proprietary copper jacketed alloy

Rotatable - Portable - Stealth - Primary & Restricted Space

Very easy to assemble

Sturdy and well built with low wind load Weighs only 5 pounds Very small footprint >p>TAK-tenna 80 Multibander has a 48 inch boom All other models have a 30 inch boom.

Direct feed with 50 or 75 ohm coax on resonant band User chooses resonant frequency Use coax + antenna tuner...or twin lead + antenna tuner for off resonance operation

Power tested to 1000 CW watts at resonance Key down for 30 seconds and 1400 Watts PEP no heat sensed on antenna wire or coax feed point when touched by hand after power testing

High efficiency = NO lossy matching components anyplace in system Directivity = 10 to 14 dB signal increase in transmit with 90 degree rotation with horizontal orientation Vertical orientation provides omni-directional pattern

Shipping world wide

Product is in production
More Info: http://www.tak-tenna.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
251554.5
WD6S Rating: 2008-03-17
Good Value Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I ordered the Tak-tenna and received delivery promptly. Assembling was easy, though I had a few questions. The wire provided did not fill all the slots in the cross arms and I wondered if I did something wrong and wrote an email which was promptly answered, with a follow up call. Construction and test were separated by a business trip to Madrid (not all business trips are bad). When I got back I spent probably 4 hours trining to get the SWR down to some of the numbers I had seen in the reviews. I finally got 20M down to about 1.3 and declared victory. I tried it at home at about 9 feet off the ground and did not have very good results at all- my wire dipoles were much better on any band.

However, this past weekend I brought it out to our desert cabin and put it up about 20 feet. It really worked well there, and by the end of the weekend I was using it in preference to my 6BTV vertical and random wire antennas. I made contacts as far way as Brazil and the Caribbean, not to mention several Virginia QSO party stations.

So after an initial disappointment in performance I have swung over to being pleased with its performance. I am not sure why it works, but it does. And it held up to desert winds gusting over 50mph.

I am tough grader, so I gave it a 4/5. It is not perfect, but for the price, it performs surprisingly well, making it a top value. Support is excellent as well. I am thinking about getting a second for camping trips.

Bob
KE7NCO Rating: 2008-03-14
TAK-20 AND TAK-40 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
BOUGHT A TAK-20 AND A TAK-40, I HAVE THEM BOTH IN THE VERTICAL POSITION AND WORK WELL.... THE 20 TAK IS ABOUT 2 S UNITS BELOW MY 20 METER BEAM IN RECEIVE AND TRANSMIT, SO PRETTY DARN GOOD!...THE 40 METER TAK IS 1/2 S UNIT BETTER THAN MY 40 METER DIPOLE WHICH IS A FULL WAVE ANTENNA...THE BEAM IS UP AT 35' AND THE 40 METER DIPOLE IS UP AT 30' SO WORKS GOOD, CONSIDERING I HAVE BOTH THE 20 AND 40 METER TAK AT 10' ON A POST, GOING VERTICAL..IT IS REALLY NICE TO BE ABLE TO SWITCH BETWEEN THE DIPOLE'S BEAM AND TAKS...GREAT ANTENNA FOR THE PRICE! I WOULD HIGHLY RECCOMEND THIS ANTENNA TO ANYONE WHO IS LOOKING FOR A SMALL BUT POWERFULL ANTENNA, WITH GOOD VERSATILITY...STEVE THE INVENTOR IS A GREAT GUY TO WORK WITH, PATIENT AND VERY HELPFULL...THANK YOU STEVE!...SO IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR AN ANTENNA THAT TAKES VERY LITTLE SPACE AND PERFORMS...BUY IT YOU WILL NOT BE DISSAPOINTED.....IN STEVE'S WORDS "THE LITTLE BUGGER WORKS!"....KE7NCO NEVADA
N4MIO Rating: 2008-03-11
It Works! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I purchased the 40m Tak around Christmas 2007. Putting it together isn't to bad after you get the hang of winding the coils (I had to start the first one over once) and had it together within a couple of hours. I used an antenna tuner to adjust for the lowest SWR on the CW portion of the band and was able to achieve about 1.7. I have had a lot of fun with this antenna and instead of it being just a backup antenna it has become part of my regular arsenal. I have the Tak mounted on a 33 foot telescoping mast and oriented with the cold side pointed west. My rig is a TS-480SAT and most contacts are made using 100 watts. Over 250 contacts have been logged with the Tak since the first of the year with many being DX stations including VP6DX on 40m CW and SSB. It is defiantly worth the money. Plans are to have one or two for portable operation.

Thanks Steve for a great little antenna,
Dwayne N4MIO
KB2OXR Rating: 2008-03-10
I'm Impressed Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
My cousin KC2NQP bought this antenna because he lives on a very small lot and space was a problem. He is getting ready to upgrade general . I figured not only would this be a good antenna for him but it would give him some hands on experience . Well the antenna went together in about 1 hour.Its mounted at 7.5 feet. We tested it with an Icom 718 , we first started with the LDG 100 auto tuner and then I used my MFJ Versa Tuner . The only thing I was not happy with is I can not get it to tune on 17m not antenna fault tuner fault . I know every installation will e different but I would suggest using a roller inductor tuner if you are going to use a manaual tuner , I am just not a big fan of the LDG 100. I got a better match with the MFJ tuner '.I must admit , I had doubts but they were soon removed when I heard a TI5 station calling CQ on 20 I figured why not , I called and he answered on the first call he gave me a respectable 5 8 report . then I tried 15 made a few DX contacts there . All in all I worked Germany , Costa Rica ,several stateside stations and I have worked a few VP2's . I am impressed with this antenna and I will be getting one for myself I will be living in a apartment for a few years and this antenna will do just fine.If you have limited space or you are looking for a portable antenna , this is a great antenna . I cant wait to see the 80m version HINT HINT .
AA7LG Rating: 2008-03-02
PERFECT FOR ME Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Last summer I purchased the suitcase version of the TAK-tenna 20 meter antenna. I purchased it for portable PSK use. I have used it with great success with my Yaesu FT-897D which is connected to my SignaLink USB & laptop computer. I tuned the antenna to be resonant on the low end of the band and I find that I don’t need an antenna tuner for this application. My normal antenna setup is to find a very quiet open remote area and set the antenna up at about 15 or sometimes 20 feet. I use a string to rotate the antenna. I feel that I am served better by this antenna than trying to launch a dipole in the trees which can be difficult, or impossible if there are no trees!

This morning I ordered the 40 meter version of the TAK-tenna and hope to use it to replace my Buddipole by eliminating the need to deploy the antenna for band changes. I will report on my findings.

73, Bob AA7LG
K0KTB Rating: 2008-03-01
Great for Deployment Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
For all the MARS operators out there, this is a great deployable antenna for Winlink2K operations. Set up at
6 ft in my yard and using Pactor 1, I was able to hit all adjoining states RMS stations on at least 3 frequencies each.
These frequencies ranged from 4 to 10Mhz. That using a LDG Z11 Pro tuner with 100 watts to a TS480HX.
It works and makes for a very portable antenna system for a deploying station. Will be testing further on voice and
digital in the near future. Tom K0KTB AAM4AL
G6DB Rating: 2008-02-24
Tak-tenna as a multi bander Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have had this antenna for about three weeks,and I'm very pleased with it's performance.
I resonated the ant. at 7.100 mhz.Rig is FT857d into low pass filter, then to Antenna via an MFJ-991b Auto tuner and an ugly balun,SWR's as follows.
80 meters - 1:1.2
40 meters - 1:1.1
20 meters - 1:1.5
17 meters - 1:1.7
15 meters - 1:1.7
12 meters - 1:1.1
10 meters - 1:1.2
Antenna is approx 11 feet above the roof of my live aboard Narrow boat.
Regards and 73's
G6BD. (Had qso with 9V1YC in Singapore 02/23/08)
KE7ORS Rating: 2008-02-21
Still Impressed Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
After using this antenna for approximatley 3 months I am still impressed with it. Used with a LDG AT-100 Pro Auto Tuner I have been able to work 80 meters through 10 meters. Getting good reports on most QSO's. All things considered, I would highly recommend this antenna for anybody that has issues that precludes them from using a full sized dipole. Thanks again Steve!
WA0RJ Rating: 2008-02-05
A Winner! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I recently lost my antenna support trees in a Minnesota windstorm. My backyard is relatively small, so a vertical wasn't the best choice. While looking for an antenna to get myself back onto HF I found the TAK-tenna while browsing reviews on eHam. Looked like it would be exactly what I needed.

After calling Steve, I ordered the antenna and it arrived very quickly. I followed the well written and easy to follow directions in the manual and after calling Steve for a couple of clarifications, had the antenna together in about an hour and a half. BTW, Steve provides fantastic customer service! He will take good care of you!

Since it was very cold in Minnesota the day I deployed the antenna, I did not resonate it. I set the leads at the initial recommended start points and used a manual tuner to tune the antenna. It is temporarily up 15 feet.

I found the performance to be outstanding. I didn't have too much time to use it but made 9 QSOs around the US and Canada on 40 meters. My furthest QSO was in California. Signal reports were very good ranging from 54 to 59 SSB, 100 watts. I will be giving it a more comprehensive workout this coming weekend.

As an aside, I love how the design reminds me of the antennas of Hams of the 1920s or earlier.

Bottom line - this antenna works and works well!
I won't judge it for what it isn't, but what it is supposed to be. The TAK-tenna does what it was designed to do.

Why I gave it a "5"

1. inexpensive
2. clear assembly instructions and ease of assembly
3. Steve's customer service
4. Outstanding performance
5. Stealthy and great for restricted space
6. Can be used as a base antenna or portable
HB9HLJ Rating: 2008-01-31
Geniale kleine KW Multibandantenne ohne Anpassungselement Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Diese Multiband Antenne wird mit einem 50 Ohm Kabel eingespeist und hat keine Apassungs L und -C die Verluste verursachen. Sehr gute Empfangs- und Abstrahleigenschaften. Kleine Windlast und geringes Gewicht - auch als "Horizontale Balkonantenne" geeignet mit 2-3m Ausladung. Konstruktion und Aufbau ist im "HAM-Spirit", einfache Materialien, die Abstimung braucht etwas Zeit, das ganze ist in 2-4 Std zu machen je nach Aurüstung und Hilfe beim Aufrichten. Bestellung in Amerika mit Vorauszahlung über Bankkonto und prompter Lieferung innerhalb einer Woche.
Ich freue mich auf die 80 Meter Version und eine zerlegbare TAK für die Ferien !
HB9 HLJ