| KC7UI |
Rating:  |
2024-12-31 | |
| Excellent antenna for the price |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
12-30-2024 updated. BUYER BEWARE. This is an updated review wherein I noted below that a fellow ham ordered a replacement wire kit for the Eagle One I loaned him. He was never able to reach the new owner regarding status despite the fact that his VISA card was charged and after four months had to go through his bank to get a bank refund since the order was not filled. My original rating stands at 5 stars for the original antenna but if you need replacement parts, especially the wire, you will need to locate a different source.
I purchased the Eagle One Vertical package directly from the original owners, W8AFX, and his wife, W8GMS, at the Orlanda Hamcation, in February 2020, while residing in Rotonda West, FL (SW Florida near Punta Corda). I lived on a canal where the sandy soil was 32’ to reach a good ground and it was difficult to obtain a decent ground using radials. Nevertheless, my SWR was almost flat across 40 meters without using a balun. I used an internal Elecraft 500 watt antenna tuner with the 500 watt Elecraft amplifier and enjoyed reasonably good worldwide communications from 40 meters thru 6 meters. A fellow ham a mere 12 miles away with different soil conditions ran a better setup from 80 meters thru 10 meters using a 4:1 balun running barefoot. The new owners have taken over the business and their website is eagleoneantenna.com. I now moved back to central Indiana and loaned my Eagle One Vertical to a fellow ham who recently moved. He ordered a replacement wire kit from the new owners website for under $30 which is very reasonable. After 2 weeks prepaid he is still waiting to receive the replacement wire kit. I note the website says all orders take 4 to 6 weeks to fill so buyer beware. There is no way to reach the owners as they do not provide names or phone numbers but their godaddy powered website says they are open for business each day during normal business hours. The only way to communicate is to send an internet inquiry. |
|
| NT8F |
Rating: |
2024-09-10 | |
| Does what is says it will do |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have this attached to the ladder on my motorhome with their motorhome ladder package. Everything included for easy mounting. Can be put up and taken down in less then a 1/2 hour.
I have operated on 10-80 with an SWR less then 1.3 excepth 80 where it is 1.8, with great signal reports(of course depending on the conditions).
The original designer Steve W8AFX who is now a SK operated the business with his wife Georgia who has sold the manufacturing rights and is still being sold under the Eagle One name. |
|
| K4EZY |
Rating: |
2023-04-12 | |
| Great antenna for the price |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I have this mounted on my back deck up about 6' off the ground with no radials. I've worked DX in Europe, So. America, China, Africa and all over. No need to spend big bucks for a great antenna that really works. |
|
| WM4RB |
Rating: |
2022-02-23 | |
| Great Antenna! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Vertical antennas work best with the tuner is at the base of the antenna. Mine has a 1 foot piece of coax from base of antenna to tuner. WORKS GREAT!
I've tried several vertical antenna's on my RV and the Eagle One out preformed them all hands down. I had a 43 ft. vertical in my yard with a tuner at the base and the Eagle One out preforms it too. I have the Eagle One mounted on the back of my RV with an AH-4 tuner at the base of the antenna. No problems here.
----------------------
Earlier 5-star review posted by WM4RB on 2011-02-14
I installed the Eagle One on the ladder of my motor home. I use a IC-706MKIIG with a AH-4 antenna tuner. I have no problems making contacts. I've tried a screwdriver antenna, ham sticks and CHA-250 and the Eagle One out performs them all. What a GREAT addition to my motor home. I am well pleased.
Mike WM4RB Cleveland, TN |
|
| K2DEP |
Rating: |
2022-02-23 | |
| Works extremely well 80m to 6m |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I bought this antenna years back to use in a portable IOTA event. It worked pretty well by just connecting to the KX3 radio directly with one radial running out about 12ft into the water. After aging it with lots of storage time I pulled it out to try some experimentation with it in the back yard because I needed something to use on the WARC bands. I ran 4 16 foot radials based on a review I read, on the grass from a small aluminum plate and connected that plate with a wire to the metal bracket holding the SO-239. I then connected a 4:1 Balun to the SO-239 and connected 50 feet of RG-58 coax to my Kenwood TS-890S. Using the radio's tuner I was able to obtain an SWR between 1:1 to 1.2:1 on all bands from 80 through 6 meters including WARC bands. I am very impressed with this vertical because it works much better than my G5RV. My first contact from my location in MD was a station in the Balearic Islands on 30 meters using 90 watts. It is a shame the antenna is no longer produced but one can be made that is similar in nature using available parts sold on the Internet. Essentially a 31 foot vertical wire using decent parts. |
|
| K8LEN |
Rating: |
2022-02-01 | |
| great antenna |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I ordered the antenna on a WEDNESDAY night and it was here SATURDAY, great service.
It took about 15 minutes or less to assemble, and I hooked up a 50 foot counter poise on it, it was a flat swr on 40.
I have only used it on ARMY MARS frequencies, outside the amateur band and it performed as suppose to.
I wonder what if anyone used some water proof sealant around the antenna connection?
73/pat/k8len
ADDITIONAL 2/1/2022
I have had 2 EAGLE 1 verticals. Last FALL I ran into a ham on 20 meters, who advised me to buy a UNUN to attach to the vertical, I did a PALOMAR 4.1 and 9.1 UNUN both on same box, and wired it up on the EAGLE , what a difference, SWR 1 TO1 using a LDG auto tuner, now it has come alive with operation on 10-80 meters. I use 2 radials only.
POB/K8LEN
|
|
| KJ7WRZ |
Rating: |
2022-02-01 | |
| OK |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I recently bought this antenna as a portable to use when we RV. For testing, I set it up at home on a 5" mast I already had at home. I put out 20 ea 33' ground radials.
I had to add 50' to the 100' of coax I already had to another antenna to reach it. My auto tuner in my FT-991A was able to tune all bands and I could hear very distant stations but I was having no luck breaking through the pile ups. It seams I was doing better with my random wire antenna from Nelson Antennas on EBAY as far as making contacts. I decided to buy a RigExpert to test the SWR of this antenna across all the bands (I needed one anyway). This antenna has no electronics what so ever. It is just a 31' fiberglass pole with a length of wire in it. Testing revealed the SWR was 4-5 across all bands except 40M where it is resonant. It just misses 15 and 12 meters with the dip just between the two bands. Even though my tuner will tune it, I feel too much power (30-40%) is being lost due to high SWR. I'm not sure how to bring down the SWR other than adding length and I am new enough to not know what electronics to add that might help (balun or unun and what ratio) I bought it because I couldn't build it for that price($210). The stand and mast alone are about $80 elsewhere. And the 33' FG pole is over $100.
It will be just ok for it's intended purpose but I am exploring other options for the RV. In some spots I can put up a wire antenna but in most of the places we camp I'll be limited to a vertical. Most of my RV use will be at night so I can live with a 40M antenna for now.
Edit: The longer I have owned this antenna the better I like it. I have added a clothes line pully to the side and on it I pulled up a 20M wire. Kinda in the fashion of the DX commander so it is resonant on 40 and 20M. It won't tune on 80M any more, maybe because I have added the 20M wire. |
|
| WE8Q |
Rating: |
2021-04-08 | |
| Works great for me! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I live in an HOA, so this antenna is perfect for me. I have it mounted on the tripod that comes with it and only use the three ground rods and no radials. I have the Icom AH4 remote tuner mounted at the bottom of the antenna and can match 80-6 meters with no problem. The antenna is only about five feet away from my house. I have made over 4000 contacts on FT8 using 50 watts max power in the past year. 110 countries confirmed also. This is a great antenna if you don't have room (or permission) for a tower with a beam antenna and dipoles. |
|
| K4TB |
Rating: |
2021-04-08 | |
| Great Stealth Antenna - Follow up |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Since my first review in 2015 (following below), I've continually used the antenna with great results. I did add 16 ground radials with resonate lengths for the various bands including 2 for 80 meters. I also added an LDG RC-100 remote tuner at the base of the antenna. That really helped the match on all bands, although not the whole of 80 meters. With just casual operating, using the antenna and 100 watts, I have a total of 126 DX countries contacted. About 4 years ago the antenna was struck by lightning, which took out the remote tuner, 2 radios and a computer. The remote tuner actually exploded! However, the Eagle one was UNSCATHED! (I have since added a 3 mega ohm resistor at the base of the antenna as static bleeder, and a remote disconnect for the feed line, including the ground side, to totally isolate the shack from the antenna when not operating. I have another RC-100 tuner and new radios now.) Oh yeah: Almost forgot to mention my Eagle One has survived two near-miss CAT 3+ hurricanes here in Tallahassee in the past few years, Hermine and Micheal, with no damage. It's a great antenna!
Previous review, in 2015:
I just moved to an HOA-antenna-restricted neighborhood early this year when I saw the Eagle One people displaying their wares at the Orlando Hamfest. I immediately noticed how stealthy the antenna was - very slim and almost an invisible black in color, so I decided to buy one to try at my new QTH. The Eagle One antenna is well-hidden behind my back fence, against some trees, and so far no neighbor has complained. I bought the whole package including tripod and ground rods. The assembly and erection was easy although I had to drill out holes in the tripod feet for a better fit of the ground rods. Also, I had to spray-paint the tripod black. Nevertheless I was very surprised at how well it worked with just the ground rods - no radials! I have 150 feet of RG-213 coax feeding it and use an Icom 7600 with internal auto tuner. It tuned easily on all bands, 40-10 meters. In 4 days I worked over 50 countries running only 50-100 watts. My new QTH is on a hill, so I'm sure that helps, nevertheless the Eagle One's performance is sufficient as to make me not miss too much my former QTH nearby which had a 6-element Log Periodic antenna. |
|
| AA7KL |
Rating: |
2021-04-07 | |
| Reasonably well made, but poor test results |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I recently purchased the Eagle One Vertical Antenna, including the antenna and tripod mount. It also has an available trailer hitch mount, which I thought would be quite convenient for portable operations, which was my planned use of the antenna (in portable, not mobile, operations – field day/POTA-style, meaning drive somewhere, setup, work for a few hours, tear down). Unfortunately, after receiving and assembling the antenna (which takes perhaps ½ hour and is pretty straight-forward), I tested the antenna using 50’ of feedline and a RigExpert AA-55 analyzer on 40m, 20m, 15m, and 10m (the bands I was planning on using it for in portable operations), and the results were disappointing.
First, I tested the antenna just as it came out of the box, set up in an open field and raised to its full height. The SWR results were not good (SWR ranges shown below come from scans across the entire listed band):
• 40m: 3.8-4.3
• 20m: Over 12
• 15m: 4.8-6.2
• 10m: Over 8
I was hoping to use it with a smaller, portable antenna tuner with a limited range, so I was looking for SWR of perhaps 4 or less. From the numbers above, you can see that it might possibly work on parts of 40m, and not at all on the other bands.
It being a vertical, I presumed that a ground plane (radials) would make a difference. I used a radial plate I had and attached a total of 16 radials – I cut 4 for each band and spread them out. I figured that for a permanent antenna setup, 16 isn’t that many, but it is a reasonable number that a ham might deploy in a portable setting such as I have described. Here are the SWR results after deploying the radials:
• 40m: 1.6-1.8
• 20m: Over 13
• 15m: 4.4-5.3
• 10m: Over 8
The ground radials appeared to make a difference on 40m, where it reduced SWR to usable levels (either with or without a tuner); but on the other bands, SWR was still too far out of range for a portable antenna tuner.
The other thing that occurred to me was to test whether the feedline was radiating, thereby affecting the SWR numbers. To test this, I put a feedline choke (DX Engineering MC-20) inline to see it if made any difference. Here are the results:
• 40m: 1.6-1.8
• 20m: Over 12
• 15m: 6-7
• 10m: 7-8
The feedline choke made no discernible (or usable) difference in SWR.
I understand that this antenna is sold “for use with a tuner,” but I have to say, even my full-sized Palstar AT2K I use at my base station might have to work a bit to match SWRs on this antenna on 20m and 10m. As I see it, it is usable only really on 40m (of the bands I tested it on … as noted, I did not test it on 80m or WARC bands). It is a relatively inexpensive antenna, so perhaps there may be hams who feel that it’s worth it for 40m use, or who want to do portable operations using a bulkier full-sized antenna tuner to match it on other bands, but it doesn’t meet my needs. That said, I do like the overall construction of the antenna, including the sturdy tripod.
Last note: I did the SWR testing shown above, but I did not test the antenna in actual operations.
|
|
