| VE7LSE |
Rating:     |
2010-03-04 | |
| Very Happy! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
First contact with the antenna on the car was LW7EK in Argentina. WOW with 5/9 report and 100W. Tunes up no problem and is easy to put up and take down.
Only thing is that it need a good ground for 40M-80M.
Very happy and would recommend. Looking at trying it in a dipole configuration with the Buddipole mast and veratee. Should be interesting. |
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| K7KEG |
Rating:      |
2010-02-10 | |
| Amazing...it must have magic in it. |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I don’t normally write internet reviews...at all; however, Carl and Alexander at Chameleon deserve some recognition for an excellent product and world-class customer service.
I got my general ticket in Dec 09 and was looking for a mutiband antenna that I could use without a tuner as the HF rig had already blown the budget. Another factor, I have a smallish CCR deed-restricted city lot and no tall supports for G5RV, no ground space for S9 vertical. Knowing I can’t get the height for a non-NVIS horizontal antenna, I knew I wanted a vertical for performance and stealth. I also wanted to consider a portable HF antenna option to use at my wife’s family vacation home in the San Juan Islands, WA.
I looked at all the typical Buddipoles, Outbackers, Scorpions and the like – what a $$$ OUCH! I also considered the Yaesu ATAS as it my FT-897D (my first rig). Many hours of research on eHam later I stumbled upon the Chameleon V1. Hmmm ... a multi-band, vertical, portable…no tuner required…and 2m/70cm?
Slices, dices, makes julienne fries! Antenna-wow.
I reserved via the Chameleon website on 1/9 and got a notification that it was ready on 1/19, less than two weeks. Excellent. Carl immediately answered my sometimes outrageous pre-purchase questions (hang in a tree?) and I received the antenna two days after payment! Whoo hoo. New toy!
My initial excitement waned upon setting it up when all bands above 17m and up showed SWR greater than 5:1. Carl IMMEDIATELY took ownership and promptly replied with test suggestions. Several days later I built a 12’ test fold-over test stand with lumber scraps. Not as high as it should be but I’m learning you do what you can with what you have in this hobby. Results, based on Carl’s guidance improved REMARKEABLY. It improved so that all bands were LESS than 2.8:1. Not the ‘reference results’ stated but now well on my way. And also on my way to being ALL BAND-TUNER FREE.
Days later I pulled it down, and again based on MANY helpful, near immediate emails from Carl, decided to add more counterpoise. WOW. Now, with the antenna only about two feet off the ground with four counterpoises at 90 degree angles and the addition of three ferrite beads the results (SWR measured at transceiver, external SWR meter and internal FT-897-no antenna analyzer):
Band With RG-213 and Ferrite Beads – WOW!
75m (4.000 MHz) 4.0:1
40m (7.250 MHz) 1.6:1
20m (14.285 MHz)1:1
17m (18.140 MHz)1.2:1
15m (21.300 MHz)1.3:1
12m (24.960 MHz)1.5:1
10m (28.500 MHz)1.9:1
Being a new ham, I am still getting the hang of HF but worked many contacts on 40, 20 and 17. From regional nets on 40, a mobile in Texas and 57 to 59 to MN, CO, AZ so far. Be realistic folks, it's not going to perform like a dipole at 60', ever. It's a trapped vertical and a darn good one (oh wait, it is 9' and NO tuning...make that an amazing one!)
So, there we are. But wait, there’s more. Carl and Alexander. Unbelievable customer service. Near immediate email responses. Helpful advice on poles, tripods, grounds, soil you-name-it they help! I can’t say enough about their service. After the first results I was ready to return the V1, what a difference a customer service focus makes. Hopefully as these guys take over the vertical portable world they can keep it up! Carl, Alexander and the V1 (and probably V2) product are going to be the "Dale Parfit" and "End Fedz" of the portable vertical antenna genre.
Now how much would you pay? Infomercial-speak aside...its a BARGAIN. Buy it! |
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| W4GRJ |
Rating:      |
2010-02-09 | |
| Amazing Antenna - Used on freqs in Haiti 12Mhz to 470Mhz |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I received short notice for deployment to Haiti in support of the Univ. of Miami field hospital in Port-au-Prince. I needed to buy and take a portable antenna. I called Carl and explained the situation, he sent out a complete V1... received in 3 days. We installed the V1 on a MFJ push up fiberglass pole using the claw mount. With one counterpoise, antenna up about 20 feet running barefoot 100W, it performed beautifully. We used the AF MARS phone patch net for health & wellfare patches. Worked the Maritime net on 14.300 with good signal reports. We had lots of emergency traffic with the USNS Comfort stationed offshore, it worked beautifully on the marine freqs. The hospital was using GMRS radios with limited range. We set up a FT-897 on channel 21 462.700Mhz to extend the range of the camp radios...the V1 worked great.
This antenna should be in everyones mobile/portable/emergency jump kit!!
Jack
W4GRJ / AFA4DG |
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| W3CUM |
Rating:      |
2010-02-09 | |
| Great Antenna |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I am located just outside of Washington DC in Chantilly Virginia and have been using my Chameleon in the snow since the 4th of February. I had an MP-1 that was damaged and no longer worked, I used those pieces to make a tri-pod and support arm for my new Chameleon. I also made a shield for the 9-1 unun and coax connector.
I placed the antenna out on a concrete sidewalk and ran the counterpoise out secured it into the ground. I also attached 9 more counterpoise wires ranging from 10 feet to 25 feet and grounded them all by soldering them to short lengths of copper pipe that I pushed into the ground. I then mixed up a batch of Hot Salt Water and poured a gallon over each stake in the ground. I have the tripod weighted down with two 2 liter bottles filled with water (now frozen) The antenna has been outside since the 4th and has been windblown and frozen and iced repeatedly and has shown no isses with the weather.
I worked Belgum this morning with 20w on psk31
I love this antenna and will be ordering the V2 shortly so that I can use them both!!!
Im posted pictures of the antenna in the Chameleon Yahoo Group.. Check out the Chameleon in the snow pictures. I will add more when the snow melts away!
I know I have not owned this antenna long and when the snow melts I will update my review. I realize that people will consider this a "Compromised Antenna", but if it performs this well in "Non-Ideal Environement" I am looking forward to seeing how it performs when the weather is better!
I am not associated with the makers of this antenna.... but after trying the V1 I wish I was, I can't wait to order their V2 and give it a try! I wish I had one with this severe weather and give it a good "Test Try"
Chris
W3CUM
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| KE5ZGX |
Rating:     |
2010-01-16 | |
| Good antenna for the money |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| At first I was disappointed in this antenna. I was mainly trying to use it on 75 meters which wasn't working out. Then i started playing around on 40 and 20 meters this weekend i made 30 or so contacts from coast to coast with signal reports of 5/9 to 5/5. I have been very surprised by the results. I use it mobile mounted on the tire carrier connected to a TS-50 and LDG KT100 tuner. I will admit this is the only mobile HF antenna i have used so I don't really have another mobile to compare it to. |
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| NR3R |
Rating:      |
2010-01-13 | |
| great antenna |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
My experience with the Chameleon V1 antenna is wonderful. It is a very well made product. I received the antenna just before field day 2009 and used it then. The set up I used was the recommended with the optional tripod and radial wire. Tuning was terrific with my AT-897 auto tuner for the FT897D. Both SSB and CW I worked everyone I tried. It now lives in my back yard as a semi permanent/portable. Setting up at home I use the MFJ-1901 metal base without any radials and goes up in mere seconds. Mowing the lawn is hard with radials, so I don’t use them. Using the MFJ-1901 the antenna tunes great on all bands even as low as 80 meters with zilch SWR. I use the supplied 9:1 balun and my auto and manual tuners. The antenna rivals my “all band” wire dipole up 40 feet. Not to mention the tech support. I had an email answer to a question from Alexander within a half hour.
I would certainly recommend this antenna without any hesitation and I am sorry I didn’t find it sooner.
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| AA1OV |
Rating:      |
2009-10-31 | |
| I've seen it with my own eyes |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
OK so I have had 3 FT817s & 3 Super Antenna MP-1s. They all worked good for a QRP, portable, gotta feed the "hooked on Ham habit" fever. My only real complaint was every time a breeze came along, it would blow over the MP-1 on my camera tripod and ding up the collapsible whip , and in many cases destroy it. It was IMHO the weak point of the MP-1. I decided to replace the MP-1 with the Chameleon V1.
The antenna arrived in short order, well packed & undamaged. It took all of 5 minutes to read the instructions & set it up on my camera tripod. As I was walking back to the rig a breeze blew it over....
Look Ma, NO DAMAGE! I righted it, walked back to the FT817, tuned it with the LDG 817 autotuner and was off making contacts. Switching bands is now a snap. No manual screwdriver tuning, running back & forth to the antenna etc, just change bands hit the tuner button and we're off to the races.
I am pleased with the performance of the compromise type antenna as it will never replace a full size dipole at 40'. But for down & dirty QRP and portable ops fun, the Chameleon V1 cant be beat |
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| N5EKC |
Rating:      |
2009-10-10 | |
| great HF antenna |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I recently purchased a used Chameleon V1 HF antenna at a hamfest. The previous owner did not give me very much information. I brought the antenna home and mounted it on my Buddipole 16 foot mast without the balun as I was unsure which way to orient the balun. I used the antenna with a Yaseau FT-897D and Palstar AT1KP tuner. The antenna worked great right away. It was easy to tune on all bands. Within 20 to 30 minutes I made contacts in AZ, PA, and AL and got 59 reports on all contacts. After these contacts the antenna appears to work as well if not better than my Buddipole with a whole lot less hassle changing bands. I also contacted Alexander by e-mail to ask some questions and received a response within an hour. The antenna appeared to be in new condition when I purchased it and looks to be a quality product. After Alexander gave me the information on proper orientation of the balun I placed it in the antenna configuration and was able to feed straight through my tuner on all bands except 75m. If all of the companies business is conducted with the timeliness and courtesy I experienced they should do well. |
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| K2JHU |
Rating:     |
2009-10-09 | |
| Good for the money... |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I got mine about 3 months ago mainly for portable use as I live in a very restricted community. I live between the Indian River and the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of Florida. From the end of our dock and the ocean parks is where I do most of my portable work. When I first got the antenna it was impossible to get it to load up. After a number of e-mails back and forth with Alexander we determined I had a bad balun. Within a few days the new one arrived and now It tunes up however I do have to use both the balun and my T1 auto tuner. I get good reports portable. I don't get it up high even at home where it is only 6-8 feet above ground due to our antenna police. I have also had luck mounting it on a small tripod. I want to thank Alexander for all of the help in resolving my 1st problem. |
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| K7IWW |
Rating:      |
2009-09-12 | |
| A Good Whip Design, At Last! |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
The Chameleon V1 was purchased off e-Bay at a discount price ($110) from the manufacturer, after perusing the manufacturer's web site (where it was then offered retail for $150).
The Chameleon V1 is an approximately six-foot tall, two-piece, helically wound, fiberglass whip joinable at the center by heavy-duty brass 3/8" x 24 male and female fittings on the two pieces. The radiating wire is wound on the fiberglass so as to load, and effectively create traps for, the various amateur bands from 80-10M plus 2 meters. It's recommended that the entire antenna be used on 40M & 75/80M, while using the lower section only on 20M-10M -- although some users (myself included) obtained a good match and good results on all bands from 80M through 10M using the entire length of the antenna; i.e., with both sections screwed together.
I did not try the Chameleon V1 on any frequency above the 10 meter band.
I have used many different types of mobile HF antenna setups over the last 35 years, including a home brew helically wound whip, Hamsticks, a Sidekick, an SGC-230 and 102-inch whip, Hustler, and ATAS.
I had a somewhat challenging situation with my 1990 Nissan Axxess, which is a rather small vehicle. It is manual transmission, so I did not want to have to fiddle with a rocker switch as required for a screwdriver-type antenna, and did not want to crowd the cockpit with extra items such as a Turbo Tuner. I wanted multi-band QSY without stopping and exiting the vehicle, and desired something that would load more efficiently than a stainless steel whip or the out-of-ham-band 8 & 12 MHz-resonant type of stick marketed (at a hefty price, to boot) for the SGC-230. Although the SCG-230/stainless whip combination worked well in some other mobile installations and on a portable tripod setup, it would not perform well in the configuration necessary for this vehicle, and efficiency below 20 meters left much to be desired in any event.
I had been looking for, and considering trying to home brew, a helical mobile antenna designed to resonate on several ham bands, when I came across the Chameleon V1 and decided to invest $110 to give it a try, since the manufacturer promised satisfaction or full refund or replacement.
I run the Icom 706 Mark II G in the Axxess. I mounted the AH-4 remote antenna coupler on the small trailer hitch that is permanently welded and bolted to a steel framework as standard equipment on the AWD Axxess, a vehicle that was sold in the US market for one year, only.
As supplied, the Chameleon V1 comes with a C-clamp, small mounting plate and 9:1 unun.
For my purposes, I set aside the unun and C-clamp and mounted one pre-drilled end of a stainless steel antenna mounting plate (approximately 3/8" thick, 10" long, 3" wide) under the hitch ball, and the Chameleon V1 to the other pre-drilled hole at the opposite end of the antenna bracket, replacing the 3/8" x 24 bottom stud with an SO-238-type 3/8" x 24 connector and protective screw-cap from my connector "junkbox."
I next soldered terminal rings on either end of a a short No. 10 solid copper wire and connected it between the "hot" terminal of the AH-4 and the bottom lug of the antenna mount. A 1/2"-wide tinned, braided grounding strap (prefabricated with terminal rings on either end, obtained from HRO) was run from the ground lug of the AH-4 to a bolt underneath the vehicle fastening the hitch assembly to the vehicle body. After running the coax and control cable from the AH-4 to the IC-706MkIIG, it was time to give the system a try.
Simply pressing the "Tune" button on the 706 put it into tuning mode and it declared a "match" with very minimal SWR (a couple of small bars signifying perhaps 1.3:1) in the middle of 40M phone. The same result was achieved at both ends of the band, phone and CW, and likewise on the other HF bands 30-10 (I did not try 60M).
75/80M is usually the troublesome band, so I saved it for last. Although it took the AH-4 a couple of tries, it nonetheless "matched" to the 75 meter band at about 3850 kHz with barely any hesitation. Once it had done so, it instantly tuned throughout the 75/80M band. Realizing that this did not necessarily indicate a good antenna, but rather could mean that it was a great dummy load, I put out a CQ. To my surprise and delight, I was answered by a Maryland station who gave me a 5X5. This was quite satisfying after not being able to get a good match there using the SGC-230 and stainless whip. The AH-4 also worked well on 75/80M with a 75/8-M Hamstick (well, one would hope so!) and would couple to that Hamstick on 40-10, but not very efficiently as to anything above 75/80M.
The next day, I checked-in mobile into the Noontime Net on 7268.5; NCS W6FHZ in Reno gave me a "Very strong signal today!!" 5 x 9 report. That evening, I was easily heard by NCS for the Oregon Emergency Net on 3980 kHz; I am used to having to be relayed into that net when mobiling.
The antenna continued to work very well for the next six months. One design deficiency, however, is that the very sturdy -- and relatively heavy compared to the fiberglass whip -- center coupler holding the two sections of the whip together, renders the antenna quite unstable in the air blow-by produced when the vehicle is in motion. The antenna will bend back as much as about 75-80 degrees and also whip from side to side. Use of a base spring is recommended. I found that it must be a very heavy duty base spring (e.g., the $80 one available at HRO) in order to hold the bottom half of the antenna vertical while the vehicle is in motion, while still protecting the antenna from damage from overhead limbs, etc. Use of a less heavy-duty base spring will permit the bottom section of the antenna to lean back nearly 45 degrees while the top section bends back to almost 90 degrees relative to the roadway, when the vehicle is in forward motion at appreciable speed. I solved this problem with a kind of bungee cord that has caribiners on each end and that is about 10 inches long in the relaxed state. I clipped one caribiner to the back rail of the roofrack on the Nissan Access, and slipped the other caribiner over the Chameleon V1 down to the level of the top of the joint connecting the two antenna halves. This worked quite well.
I also took to bending the antenna forward and hooking the tip under as recessed spot on a plastic bracket located about two-thirds of the way toward the front end of the the roofrack, which would place the antenna in a curved forward shape, when entering a parking structure or even while traveling at high speed; when operated this way, it produced nice NVIS on 40 and 75/80- meters.
Unfortunately, that eventually proved too stressful for the antenna and it cracked just above the center joint.
I emailed Alexander (manufacturer) requesting the price for replacement of the top section only. To my surprise, he immediately replied that a replacement was being shipped the next business day at no charge beyond $12 postage I could send via Pay-Pal. I suggested that an adjustable center coupler be offered for joining the two sections, that would have a thumbscrew allowing the user to place the antenna top section at various user-selected angles.
Alexander also indicated that he would send me, free of charge, a prototype of the new V2 version of the Chameleon, which is only about 4.5 feet tall and promises coverage from 3.0-500 MHz, seeking only my honest evaluation. I agreed to do such a beta test, and likely will post a review here at such time, if ever, as that antenna may be offered retail.
This review is objective and is not influenced by Alexander's provision of a replacement top section at no charge, though I do deem that worth mentioning again (even though this section is not for reviewing vendors) because such strong customer support is so rare these days.
CONCLUSION: Despite the "Achilles' heel" of the Chameleon V1 (wind resistance deficiency)having been found, I highly recommend this antenna to the HF mobileer. Reinforcing the center joint with a few layers of electrician's tape or such, would adequately shore up that weak link.
MSRP: $170.
Google "Chameleon HF antenna" for a link to the manufacturer's pages.
73 de Kevin WA7VTD |
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