| KC4SMI |
Rating:  |
2012-11-01 | |
| Awesome porduct |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Alex,
Just a short note to let you know how pleased I am with the alexloop. To be honest, I didn't really expect much of it as I am of the belief that longer and taller is better as far as antennas. I received my new KX3 on thurs. before the DX contest on the weekend, Oct. 27th and 28th. Having already received the AlexLoop, it was sitting in my bedroom put together. After firing up the KX3 for the first time, I attached the only antenna I have at present, the AlexLoop. I immediatly started hearing QSO's from all over the world. At ten watts, I started trying to make contacts and within several hours, had QSO's with stations from Spain, Brazil, Argentina, France, Gambia, Turks and Caicos, various spots in the Bahamas and Canada and almost Hawaii, all from inside my house here in Kentucky with the antenna in my bedroom. 22 QSO's in all. I am amazed! I never did this well with my Kenwood 440 and a G5RV.
Thanks for a great product and allowing me a great time this weekend.
Best Regards,
Brock Steele, KC4SMI
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| AF2DX |
Rating: |
2012-09-12 | |
| Can't be beat-BUT |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
The Mag Loop,be it the ALEX LOOP or your own home brew loop.
When your stuck in a no antennas condo they work well in the craw space.
However the tuning on 40 meters is sort of narrow.,about 5 KC tops
No balcony then it doesn't look good indoors.
But if that's all you can have,your on the air
Mine are under the bed now since I started playing with the unun wire antenna.
With the right tuner it can get you close to the entire 40 meter band.
Yes I have to retune every 35 to 50 KC,depending on the band i'm on but it beats tuning every 5 KC
If all you can have is the mag loop then use it.
Keep experimenting.
Any antenna is better then a cold rig sitting on the desk
BOB
AF2Q |
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| WU7R |
Rating: |
2012-09-12 | |
| Not a Walkman |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Mine is not the Walkman model, but it is the one with copper tubing for the loop. I have had it about a month now and I am very pleased with it. I use it primarily in my second story apartment in a bedroom. I am absolutely amazed at how well this antenna works. Although it is a little more work to tune than my other antennas (primarily the Outbacker Outreach), it seems to me to be much more effective. Most of the time I use the tuning capacitor to have the most noise on any band (40 meters through 6 meters) and then use the automatic internal tuner on my KX3. I always get as good match and am able to make amazing contacts (Gulf Shores, AL to Bar, Montenegro on 5 watts). For the money, this is by far the best portable antenna I have used. |
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| VE3OP |
Rating: |
2012-09-01 | |
| It works! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I received my AlexLoop yesterday - it only took a week from Rio to Ottawa. Alex is very responsive.
Although this antenna is a reasonably simple design, Alex has done a nice job commercializing it after 10 years' experimenting with mag loops to see what works best. It comes with a nice small footprint bag and goes together very easily in about 1 minute.
As the instructions state, you can generally find the resonant frequency just by listening and tuning for maximum noise, first. Then transmit with 2-3 watts to dial in the final setting for your chosen frequency. On this last step you almost have to breath to get minimal SWR, as it requires very fine tuning. But it can be done.
I have to say it is a great, small footprint receiving antenna, while coupled with the superb Elecraft KX3.
Today, I was sitting in my backyard using the KX3 running only 5 watts and the AlexLoop, 1 metre off the ground supported on my Buddipole mast. Even though 15m presented average conditions, I worked a number of stations across the US, as well as England and even Namibia (7,500 km short path). So yes, it definitely works!
Despite the product living up to every expectation, these are my dream enhancement wishes for the future:
1. Higher (perhaps 50-75w) power capability - not sure what this would take to achieve. Off course, this might require remote tuning to eliminate RF burns, so see my next point.
2. Remote tuning capability, even automated similar to screwdriver antennae.
3. If not remote tuning, a secondary "fine tuning" adjustment, to dial in the final minimal SWR setting.
I recommend you try this antenna out, especially if you enjoy the growing sport of HF backpacking and SOTA activation. It is a terrific addition to my kit bag.
'73
Craig, VE3OP
ve3op@rac.ca
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| PY2ONU |
Rating: |
2012-07-09 | |
| Very very good! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have this antena since 2009 and made many many dx to this wonderfull antena! I live in Brazil and work more 100 contries in CW and Phone. See One of my videos posted in youtube below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzo50HfM9Pg |
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| HB9DST |
Rating: |
2012-06-29 | |
| some compromises but worth it |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I'd like to give 4.5, but the scale won't let me. Not absolutely perfect, but not far off.
I bought the Walkham at Ham Radio Friedrichshafen (Germany) where I also had a chance to meet "the" Alex, and I've started using it on SOTAs. The performance is better than I had expected.
Today's SOTA was HB/SG-017, Hinterrugg, 2306 meters, plenty of snow at the very end of June! In less than an hour, I got 18 QSOs on 30 meters (10 countries) and 23 QSOs on 40 meters (8 countries). True, reports are not as good as when I use my end-fed halfwave antenna, and SOTA chasers are willing to put on their ears (I got reports as low as 339). But it's much easier to carry and faster to put up the Alexloop than a mast -- and I still made plenty of contacts. Especially for SOTAs where a mast is very inconvenient or difficult, putting a Walkham on a modified camera tripod works fine (even if I did have to guy the tripod today due to high winds on the summit).
Keep in mind:
1. Tuning is VERY touchy. Alex says you can get a rough idea of the setting in receive mode, but I am not able to do so. I take an antenna analyzer along to find the best setting on the Alexloop. Fortunately, with SOTA you pretty much settle on a frequency and stay there.
2. Your signals will be down. Mine are at least 2 or 3 S units down from an end fed. But QSOs definitely are possible.
3. Let's see how the construction holds up after 100 or so SOTAs...
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| WA8EBM |
Rating: |
2012-05-04 | |
| Astounding antenna |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| This is a very well made, easily deployable, portable antenna for 40 to 10 meters. If you look at the charts and effeciency of loop antennas you will see that this size is very optimum for 17 meters and above. I have made contacts on 40 and 20, with fairly good reports but 17 and up is where it really shines. The tuning cap has a vernier but requires a light touch on the higher frequencies. SWR of 1.5 and lower is typical with the high Q circuit. It only has a power rating of 20 watts, which is fine for portable work. I decided to write this review after a contact I made this morning. I was on 17 meters SSB and heard a small amount of traffic. A Russian station, RA1AOB was coming in S7, on my new Elecraft KX3 transceiver, running 6 watts on a small battery pack. After a few calls he came back to me giving me a S4 report. I was sitting on my deck, under my Sunsetter awning, with the AlexLoop on a small modified camera tripod at 3 feet in the middle of a residential neighborhood surrounded by foilage and houses. If you search WA8EBM on YouTube you will find a video of me talking to WG0AT on 15 meters. We were both running AlexLoops and 10 watts. I was even surprised at how strong my signal was. It is fairly expensive, you could build something similar with info Alex has on his pages but it comes with a very strong carrying case that is big enough to hold a bunch of wire for lower band antennas. I think even Alex is amazed at some of the results achieved with his antenna. |
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| NN1F |
Rating: |
2012-04-01 | |
| A great travel antenna |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
This winter after getting my AlexLoop Walkham antenna, I took it to a state park in Portsmouth NH to try out my antenna and FT-817 at 5 watts plugged into the car. It was cold, so I set up the antenna just outside the car on a tripod and was transmitting from the passenger seat while my wife and son were looking for shells and glass on the beach. Low and behold, my first contact that day was 9A202NA in Croatia, a special event station. He gave me a 569. This antenna is going on a cruise with us to Alaska this spring. (as long as I get permission from the ship owner). This antenna should get me lots of DX and local contacts. I also used it in my den with my NC40A on battery power. that got me Parma Ohio, K8CMD. He gave me a 559. I am loving this antenna and plan on traveling with it as many places as possible with my FT817 or KX1.
I give this a resounding "5". Alex is a great guy and is very helpful with any questions. |
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| VK2RF |
Rating: |
2012-01-25 | |
| 17,400km 5 watts |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Hi Alex,
I just had to let you know that yesterday night I made a contact with your Walkham Loop using 5 watts on an FT-857 from Sydney to France (F5PAU) . I gave him a 59, he gave me 52.
Distance was 17,400 kilometres! However he said he was beaming long path, so it's even longer.
I was inside a sailing club facing the ocean through a window, with a wooden ceiling and a carpeted restaurant on top.
Awesome, I love your loop!
Current conditions:-
SF 131. a=17, k=3
73 de Raffy VK2RF |
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| HB9ZAP |
Rating: |
2011-10-25 | |
| OTA Operation using AlexLoop |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
Dear Alexandre,
Most of my activities are portable QRP- SOTA-Activations, using an IC-703, a LI-PO Accu (7.7 Ah), and , up to now, various portabel wire antennas. Since a few month I am using exclusively a Magnetic Loop, called AlexLoop, built by Alexandre Grimberg, PY1AHP. It is easy to carry along, wheiging 800 gr, fits into the backpack (approx 25 x 35 x 5 cm), and a short telescope tube of 1.0 m , extended, no 5 to 6 m mast is needed. Many time you span wires on mountain top, you easely getting problems with other climbers present, they call them trip wires, hi !
Well Alexandre, you did a fine job, I am very much pleased with the performance of the loop. There is practically no difference to my inverted dipol, nor to the vertical (L-shape) dipol. For the last 19 activations I used the AlexLoop , receiving the same reports as before with the wire dipols. First I was a bit skeptical about tuning, however it turned out to be very easy, tuning is just a matter of a few seconds.
As a QRP-Antenna ( 20 W max) I recommend the loop any time.
Kind regards Edwin hb9zap
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