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Reviews For: Slim Jim portable 2 meter antenna by N9TAX

Category: Antennas: VHF/UHF+ Omnidirectional: verticals, mobile, etc

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Review Summary For : Slim Jim portable 2 meter antenna by N9TAX
Reviews: 46MSRP: 19.99
Description:
Portable, efficient, high quality antenna for two meters
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.2wayelectronix.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
35464.8
VK7JB Rating: 2011-05-04
What a great product! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Perfect antenna for portable use, rolls into a small package for storage and a breeze to deploy. Clever design, excellent build quality with outstanding attention to detail in the construction. Delivers everything it promises in function. I couldn't have built this antenna for what I paid N9TAX. One of the true value for money products in ham radio. Thank you N9TAX - it's so good I want to buy another.
John
KD0LWV Rating: 2011-02-28
Great antenna value with 3 day shipping! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I recently purchased Joe,s (N9TAX) dual band Slim Jim for my go kit. I ordered it directly from his web site and saved a buck or 2 over the Ebay price, and in 3 days it was in my mail box. I found the quality and workmanship to be outstanding and could not have built it myself for the price paid. Yesterday during the thunderstorms, I had my base ground plane disconnected and decided to give the Slim Jim a try with my FT-60 HT. Hanging on the shack wall with a tack, SWR checked at 1:1 to 1:3 across the 2M band and I was able to hit all local Wichita, KS repeaters over a 40 Mi+ radius with full quieting. Outstanding value with incredible service.
ADAM2 Rating: 2011-02-27
Amazing - Delivers on the promises Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Of all the antennas I've purchased recently, this Slim Jim is the one of the few to deliver what it promises.

With it hanging from my the ceiling in my apartment in San Francisco, I can hit the repeater in Palo Alto (50w). No fiddling, no quality control issues, no excuses, N9TAX delivers what he promises.

Even using an HT (FT-60r, 5w), the signal was significantly improved from the stock rubber duck, and improved from the Diamond RH77CA.

This product is one of the few that I consider exceptionally high quality.
KF5HTK Rating: 2011-01-09
Amazing! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Purchased the dual band version of this through ebay a few months ago and have been amazed. I'm a relatively new ham and this is my first "real" antenna...WOW what a difference!

If I can hear a repeater, I can talk through it without trouble using the HT. That should be reason enough for being happy with a $30 (shipped!) antenna. Knowing how I use it changes things a bit.

The antenna is hung from a ceiling fan in my bedroom on the 3rd floor of a building with VERY thick concrete walls in a QRM heavy downtown. Attached to my HT it can hit virtually any repeater within a 35 mile radius of my apartment. Just imagine what it'd do in the hands of an experienced ham with better equipment and an outside mount!

The antenna rolls up to fit in my backpack for simplex fun on a mountain top. While not meant for the job, it can easily hear satellites and I've used it to receive NOAA satellite images.

As a first upgrade from a rubber duck, this thing knocked my socks off. So much fun can be had with just an HT and this antenna! Perfect for apartment dwellers and hikers.
KJ4VTH Rating: 2010-09-20
an update Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
So I've got this thing as high up as I can, about 12 feet, and RX is MUCH better and TX is a BIT better, so I'll upgrade my rating to a 3 (OK but not great).
W5JHW Rating: 2010-07-29
Dual Band Version is great! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I have a 5W HT and bought one of the N9TAX dual band antennas on eBay. I hung it inside a piece of 1" PVC pipe and capped the top to keep it dry. It is mounted on the parapet of my house. Works great. I hit repeaters at about 15 and 35 miles with full quieting. It appears to be an inexpensive, simple to mount base (or carry around) antenna. The antenna is well made and comes ready to use. Well worth the money.
KB1UJS Rating: 2010-07-19
Great antenna! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I'm a new ham who needed an affordable antenna to get my 2 meter rig on the air. This antenna hung from the eave of my house gets me into the local repeaters with no issues. I am very satisfied with the build quality and price. The copper J-pole I had planned would have been more expensive and a lot more work.
KF7LDW Rating: 2010-06-30
Great for a newbie! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
As a new ham and overwhelmed antenna buyer this was a godsend. Not knowing any better I purchased a Diamond mag mount and stuck it to a metal pizza pan. Had good results but then I came across the Slim Jim and anyone looking for a portable, easy to use and inexpensive antenna should have one. I can hang it off my deck or outside my window and get fantastic results. May mount permanent outside if I can make it stealth enough. Fast shipping and available with any connector you want. Probably going to buy another for a go-kit antenna.
KR5TX Rating: 2010-04-05
Well Made, Outstanding, Portable Antenna at a GREAT Price!. Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Joe, N9TAX, takes a "simple ladder line antenna" and does it better! From Joe’s website, “The basic Slim Jim is an end fed, folded dipole. It has a radiation pattern peaking between 5 and 8 degrees above the horizon. It is this and this alone that makes this one of the best terrestrial communications antennas I have ever seen for the price.”

He’s right! I bought one of the dual band versions after reading the reviews here . . . then, I bought another VHF only to replace my copper J-Pole. This antenna is very well made; outstanding craftsmanship and it is the small details that set it apart from others! I could not build my own and approach this antenna in terms of cost, quality and performance.

This is a 450 ohm ladder-line J-pole with connections that are clean and neat. The solder work is smooth and shiny, that is where you could see it. Heat-shrink tubing covers most of the exposed connections AND comes with a ferrite bead for an RF choke. The SO-239 connector appears to be of good quality. This antenna is versatile. Use it as a base or portable, full power rig or HT. Features: Length - 6 Feet tip to connector. 1.5:1 Bandwidth > 4mhz Power Handling - 100 watts Gain - Approx 6dbi for VHF only and approx 6dbi /2m & 5dbi/70cm for the dual bander. Weight - 6oz with your choice of connector

When you order you will likely have this antenna in less than a week. Blazing fast shipping! Joe doesn't mess around. You can't go wrong with this antenna.
WS5J Rating: 2010-03-06
Great Antenna at a Fantastic Price Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I bought the dual band J pole a few months ago for emergency communications use. The antenna is the equal of my home brew J pole which I made of copper pipe. The copper antenna is at 80 feet high on top of my tower, while the Slim Jim antenna is at 30 feet high. I am basing the performance comparison on the ability to get into different repeaters at a pretty good distance. If you are in the North Texas area, you know the difficulty of hitting the Stephenville repeater from Cleburne. For those of you not in North Texas, that is about 55 miles. The Slim Jim can get in day or night with out any problem. Not full quieting but still in solid enough that no one is complaining. That fact alone has sold several of these antennas to other hams in the area. It is a very good antenna and at a great price ($26 delivered). Enough said.