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Reviews For: Eagle One Vertical Antenna

Category: Antennas: HF Portable (not mobile)

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Review Summary For : Eagle One Vertical Antenna
Reviews: 40MSRP: $95; whole tripod mounting kit i
Description:
The Eagle One is a portable/home base antenna manufcatured by two hams in Proctorville, Ohio; W8AFX and W8GMS. The antenna itself consists of a series of fiberglass tubes telescoping to 31' with an interior radiating element of HD wire which is toped with a metal loop for either adding additional length or suspending the antenna from a fixed point. Also available is a large metal tripod which holds a 4' pole against which to strap the antenna. The antenna fits into itself and makes a tube 2" x 44". It also is available with two connectors to install it on an (RV) ladder, but not for mobile use.
Product is not in production
More Info: http://w8afx.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00404.6
NV6L Rating: 2020-05-25
All I could have asked for and more Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
After a recent RV purchase, I got this antenna to replace an 18' vertical which had a manual loading coil to change bands. It's not perfect (17 and 30 need some TLC), but on the main bands, it has been fantastic, including nighttime FT8 contacts, barefoot, on 15 from northern CA to Fiji, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand and Russia (European and Asiatic). Plus, just completed WAS! It's added a whole new level of enjoyment to the hobby. Highly recommended!
KQ4KK Rating: 2020-04-17
It is just a vertical wire with a great mount Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
It is just a 32ft vertical wire antenna that you must add as many ground radial wires as you can, or a 43 ft RV.
The pole and mounting parts are very nice, and that is what you are paying minimal dollars for.
It doesn't have any magic baluns, coils, potted dummy loads to get in the way of the RF. No secrets or hokey poskas. Just wire and a great mounting.
KB3PQT Rating: 2020-03-01
Highly portable, easy to assemble. Multiband Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I forget when I got my Eagleone but it was the last year the vendor was at the Berryville, VA hamfest, so it has been a bit. I looked at a variety of portables. In general they were expensive, required making physical adjustments to the antenna to change bands, were not multi band and were low power. The Eagleone takes 1 person 15 minutes or less to set up. Is Multiband with no work, handles 100 watts RF. I don't use mine much but am generally amazed with the results. Are there better antennas? Probably, but for the whole package this works. I added 4 32' radials to mine but have made no other changes.
K2DV Rating: 2018-02-24
Good, especially for RV Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
It's difficult to rate an antenna when you haven't had the chance to test another one with it side by side. That being said I've had my Eagle One for almost a year and it seems to work well. It's no beam but it gets me on the air and that's the important thing. My only station is now in my RV and I wanted an antenna that was easy to use and not too awfully conspicuous. I put a small flag at the top of it when it's up. There are always poles with flags on them in the park. I use three counterpoises and also a SGC auto tuner. I would recommended it and definitely for RV use.
KT0DD Rating: 2017-10-07
Over 2 years use and now with 800 Watts. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Just updating my review. My Eagle One is doing great for my restricted space / HOA setup, and I have now added an Ameritron AL80B running 800 Watts SSB on 75 / 40m. Works just fine running thru a Ten - Tec 238 C manual tuner. No arcs / sparks. Electrical Tape wound at joints keeps things solid.

My last Review:
Updating my earlier review. It's been a year and a half since I installed my Eagle One (ground mounted) in a HOA situation. I have a 33' top wire attached which runs down diagonally to the o corner of my fence. W8AFX does not recommend this, but I have reinforced the metal tip ring and used 14 guage coated wire for the extension. I also have two 33ft. ground radials running down the fenceline on the ground. Everything has a little flexible droop in it and in high winds everything moves without any snapping back of the antenna tip. I have a reliable 400-500 mile contact radius on 75m where I am resonant, and using a tuner on 40m & 20m with moderate to strong stations and a few mobile contacts. I have worked Japan and Czech republic on 40 & 20m. My rig is a 200 watt Kenwood TS480HX. For what everything is at my very limited location I am tickled pink with the results. Great Job W8AFX! I will be buying another one soon for a backup. These make great HOA antennas.

Todd - KT0DD
WG2W Rating: 2017-01-18
Problems from start Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought this last year at Orlando after seeing other Hams using one. Nothing but trouble. I guess I'm the only one that can't get the shaft to fold down because of the internal wire restricting. I would tell anyone to drill holes for screws to stop the sections from getting jammed the 1st time you deploy or you will end up with greater than a 6' pole. I was not impressed with signal strength.
KD9CLR Rating: 2016-12-01
Great antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I was looking for a vertical antenna to use at the camp ground due to limited space and restrictions. Well, by the time I purchased this antenna I was just closing the camp site up for the season. Anyway, set the antenna up at home and am now using it for my base antenna. I am hearing stations and talking to stations that I wasn't able to do on my dipoles' at home. This antenna took all of 10 to 15 minutes to put up and the performance of the Eagle One is by far more than I expected. Steve (W8AFX) engineered a vertical antenna that works as advertised! I use a LDG YT-100 antenna tuner with a Yaesu FT-857D radio and the SWR is pretty much flat on all bands.
Great antenna Steve, Thank you.
Larry,
KD9CLR
AB7DP Rating: 2016-09-24
Very Impressed Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I enjoy RV camping and operating ham radio from a campsite. Over the years I have tried many different portable and mobile antennas, and each have their strengths and weaknesses in what was best for my style.

I was looking for something that was easy to setup, as efficient as possible, able to change bands, and listen to AM broadcast radio stations when not on the air.

This antenna was shipped promptly, via USPS Priority mail. I ordered the antenna with the RV ladder mount which mounted easily, all the parts appear very well made for years of use.

What I like about the antenna is the length, about 31', not a short inefficient whip. It also has a metal ring on the top of the antenna where the internal wire connects, you could clip a wire here and make the antenna even longer or an NVIS antenna. While camping, I put a wind sock on the antenna to blend in with the other beach campers.

Since this is a non-resonant antenna, I used an Icom AH-4 antenna tuner, mounted on the RV ladder below the antenna. I found I could tune all the bands except 160 meters.

While camping for about 4 days, I tuned and worked stations on 80, 40, 20, and 17 meters. I know it is anecdotal, but I seemed to have more success that when I was using short whip antennas. Could I work everyone I could hear, no, but I still had a lot of fun trying and working other stations.

The only hard part, was lowering the antenna. The internal wire comes out the bottom of the antenna through a hole. I needed a fellow camper to pull the wire out while I lowered the antenna, otherwise the wire jammed up inside.

Overall, I would recommend the antenna and think that others may enjoy using it while RV camping.
WA3CAS Rating: 2016-07-23
Outstanding Vertical Antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I've seen this antenna at local hamfests for years, and was always impressed with how the co-designer of this antenna described and demonstrated his creation.

This year I finally bought the Eagle One to replace my GAP Eagle DX vertical. As recommended I bought an Icom AH-4 tuner and mounted the tuner at the base of the antenna.

I'll keep the rest of this review short and simply say I am very pleased with the performance of the Eagle One when used with the AH-4.
AB2EW Rating: 2015-12-18
Excellent Vertical Antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The first thing you notice about this antenna is the quality of construction and workmanship. The antenna is a telescoping fiberglass pole inside of which is a wire which forms the radiating/receiving element. The pole is surprising strong and rigid after extension, which is a very easy process. The tripod is strong and is secured to the ground with three four-foot ground rods. The mounting is sturdy and quite confidence-inducing. I mounted my Eagle next to a long chain-link fence which I used as my ground system (in addition to the ground rods). I'm using the antenna in a permanent setup at my QTH, but it takes only 15-20 minutes to erect, so it would do well in portable situations. The antenna tunes to a low SWR over 80-10 with my MFJ tuner in the shack. However, I decided to put a matching network at the base of the antenna, and I was able to design a three-element pi-network that matches the 30-foot Eagle One on both 40 and 30 meters. So now no further tuning is necessary on these bands. So far I've used the Eagle on 40m mainly and have found that it compares favorably to my 40m dipole erected at a height of 35-40 feet. With some DX stations at night, the vertical performs better than the dipole by 1/2 - 1 S unit, probably because of the lower angle of radiation with the vertical over the dipole. Other times the dipole is better by about an S-unit. I am very happy with these results, and I would recommend the Eagle One to anyone who wants a simple and effective portable or fixed 30-foot vertical antenna.