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Reviews For: Wonder Wand

Category: Antennas: HF Portable (not mobile)

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Review Summary For : Wonder Wand
Reviews: 10MSRP: £89.95 UK
Description:
The Wonder Wand is a UK manufactured 40m to 6m (7MHz - 50MHz) portable unit with a rotatable knob on the rear which allows you to select the desired band of operation. The Wonder Wand also allows VHF & UHF (70MHz to 440MHz) operation via the VHF/UHF section on the rotatable knob which is ideal for the Yaesu FT-817ND or Icom IC-703.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.hamradio.co.uk/cgi-bin/sh000001.pl?REFPAGE=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2ehamradio%2eco%2euk%2f&WD=wand%20wonder&PN=Wonder_Antennas%2ehtml%23a1_21544#a1_21544
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00104.7
W3KKO Rating: 2021-02-22
Good for what it is Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I picked up the Wonder Wand Widebander a few years back second-hand as a throw-in with another purchase. I don't operate much portable, but dusted it off in preparation for a trip to my daughter's in Nevada. Figure I'll try some backyard portable while there. I connected about 8 feet of coax between my 857D and the tuning box, extended the whip, and placed the antenna in a window opening. On 40m FT8 with 10 watts I was making contacts into the central and western states from Maryland, receiving signal reports of between -15db and -20db. I'll take that performance, even though its a very small sample size. For giggles, i removed the whip, attached a BNC to SO-239 adapter, and connected that to my base station end fed via 40ft of coax. The tuning box gave me almost 1:1 swr, and good contacts were made on 40m and 20m FT8. Again, a very small sample size but encouraging for portable use. The Wiindbander is NOT a full size antenna, and expectations should be realistic. But I find it useable for these situations, and far better than NO antenna :-)
KB3NWU Rating: 2019-07-01
Use proper counterpoise! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Have owned the WW Wide-Bander MKII & Tuneable Counter Poise for several years now. You buy this antenna for 2 reasons: versatility (160-70cm), and convenience (small, portable, quickly set up & running); but, not for DX performance. In this review I want to share some of the things I do to get the most out of this, or any small vertical antenna. First, expect few, if any, contacts if you're not using some sort of counterpoise system. If you are going to use a single "tuned" 1/4 wave wire attached to the radio's ground (instead of the Tuneable Counter Poise) remember that a physical 1/4 wave length wire is no longer electrically 1/4 wave when it's laying on the ground (it's longer, and you have to cut it to about 180/frequency), and there is a lot of ground loss with just one radial. Best to use at least 8 radials where resonance effects aren't as important as ground return. However, laying out eight or more wires takes away from the convenience factor using this antenna. Or, you can elevate the radial (like operating from the 3rd floor and hanging it out the window - the higher above the ground the less loss). I use the WW antenna with the Tuneable Counter Poise and there seems to be some confusion how best to use them together (Which one do you tune first? Which letter on the counterpoise is for the band I want to work?). Find the proper letter on the TCP by first attaching it to the CENTER connector of your radio's antenna jack. Set your band/frequency and turn to the letter with the loudest noise (it will be obvious). Do this for all the bands and make a note so you can just turn to the appropriate TCP letter when switching bands. Chose your band and TCP letter, then tune the WW antenna. Your ground conditions may vary slightly but if you want to try my TCP settings they are as follows: 60M:A, 40M:C, 30M:F, 20M:H, 17/15M:J, 12M:K, 10M:L. The TCP only tunes to 60M but the WW antenna will tune to 160M so when tuning 80M I attach a 25' wire to TCP wire and set the TCP to A. If you are a masochist and want to try working 160M, just attach a 94' 9" wire to the radio's ground connection. Sometimes there will be more than one combination of letters and numbers (inductance and capacitance) on the WW antenna that give a low SWR. Always use the combination with the highest letter and lowest number. This will have less loss in the tuner than other settings. Using these methods I can make contacts with this little guy and my 817nd - I've even made 80M contacts with it. Give it a try.
G8VVY Rating: 2018-06-22
Not really impressed Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I bought the Wonder Wand Widebander as a first multiband antenna solution to, hopefully, get me back on the air after a log break.

I didn't expect the world, and it fully meets my expectation!

The design is OK - when I was much younger, I was building kit like this - and the varicon tuner and switch have a nice feel to them. The varicon looks similar to the one in my 1960s 6 transistor MW radio!

Tuning is quite sharp and I can get a nice low SWR on the bands I have tried the most ... 40m and 20m. But; I have yet to make a single contact using the Wonder Wand, trying low and high land and even shoreline operation using numbers of counterpoise wires.

Reception is OK but my FT-817ND seems just as capable at picking up weak signals using a long wire.

I can't justify the money unfortunately and simple wire dipoles have produced better results.
AI4WC Rating: 2018-05-07
GOOD! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Second try-it worked. First try was radio fault. The thing works, but antenna is almost unmanagable. A stiffer antennaa would be more to my liking, but I will persist with the factory one. The idea is good, but a little tweeking would help the product, and the expense is a bit high.
G7IDJ Rating: 2015-04-05
good value for money Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I got the widebander from 160m to 70cm at 10W.
I have to admit I didn't bother using it for 2m and 70cm.
I used it with an FT817
I have mostly been using it on 20m to 10m.
Positive points:
- ideal for QRP portable work
- not that expensive with slightly over £110
- with two buttons achieve a got swr
- excellent on RX
- accessories selection is good - telescopic antenna and long wire connector
- versatile

Negative points:
- I am not sure about the plastic casing
- on TX I get results but could be better

I found using a a longer wire with the additional wire connector makes quite a difference. Today I used 5m long wire, tuned it in on 20m and it performed like a full blown station.
With just the telescopic antenna I think it is ideal attach some sort of counterpoise to make it work.
I do have the Wonderwand Wonderloop as well. The loop seems to perform better on 20 to 10m and the noise levels are a lot lower but then again loops operate differently to standard antennas.
Still with the wideband version there is access to 40m, 80m and 160m - I have to confess though I havn't really used it on those bands.

To sum it up:
It is great for portable use, great for RX for TX you should get a counterpoise or use a longer wire and it will do you proud!
The accessories come with the WonderWand Widebander and you just need to get yourself a long wire!
M0GNA Rating: 2014-10-07
Stunning Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I unpacked it and connected it to my FT817nd and tuned it by ear on 20m and got a 5/1 report from a Czech station with just 2.5 watts and that was working indoors.I will be ordering the counterpoise and heading to my local beach.You can fit it into you shirt pocket,its a QRPers ideal companion,i love it..
G7NKS Rating: 2013-09-27
Great product and UK made! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Bought one of these today at the National Hamfest in the UK. I wanted a simple compact HF antenna to use with my FT897 and FT817 out portable or garden etc. Only had it 1 day and I'm compelled to write a review. Great product and works well. Not cheap, but looks/feels well made and works v well for what it is. It's not a SteppIR @ 50 metres but equally you can't pop those in a carry on bag! Definitely to be recommended.
M0SAZ Rating: 2012-03-12
Amazing little antennas Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have the widebander and the standard Wonder Wand, both with the optional TCS (Tunable Counterpoise).

This is my first choice truly portable antenna system. I can put everything I need to operate in a single flight case - rig, antenna, mic/key etc.

If you want to hear how good it is just type wonder wand m0saz into YouTube and see some videos of it in action.

Top quality product - really fun to use!
M3FLP Rating: 2010-02-09
Brilliant! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have the Wonder Wand Widebander from ML&S and it's absolutely brilliant.

Years ago, I purchased a Miracle Whip and this is WAY better. You also get the connector to attach a random wire onto it and easily tune away.

Superb reception and TX from indoors on 5 watts.

Just get one, you will be surprised! I am well happy...!
G0MLY Rating: 2007-10-23
Small Wonder! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
UK made (by a working broadcast engineer, I understand) the Wonder Wand (I have the Mk2 version) does everything that can reasonably be asked of it.

It's a bit less expensive than it's Canadian competitor (I have used that one too)and performs equally as well and maybe slightly better! Up to 25 watts RF output - I think the Mark 3 may be able to manage 40 watts?

I like the PL259 on the back side of the unit, as you can easily adjust the click knob for the bands. It works on many more radios than just the FT-817 as the tuning knob does not get in the way of the rear of the rig. 2m and 70cm are also easy to tune if you are patient with lengthening and shortening the whip.

Opening it up reveals what you might expect, a well designed UK product that I think has not really had the exposure it deserves. I suspect the components may be of higher quality than the immediate competitor, but others may know more than I on this one.

I've worked all over Europe on an FT-817 with relative ease, and used it on a TS-480 too, though the tunable counterpoise (made especially to fit the Wonder Wand) certainly helps. With 2 tunable lengths to play with, it makes HF portable fun yet again.

I notice the product range is expanding, so Wonder Antennas looks like they are here to stay, which can only be good news for hams!

This small wonder is definitely recommended! Hope you can get it in the US!