Manager


Manager - NA4M
Manager Notes
Reviews Home

Reviews For: Rippletech TZ-V-4

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

eMail Subscription

Registered users are allowed to subscribe to specific review topics and receive eMail notifications when new reviews are posted.
Review Summary For : Rippletech TZ-V-4
Reviews: 3MSRP: 329.00
Description:
10/15/20/40m Trapped Vertical
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.rippletech.com.au/Products_List.htm
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0035
VK0KEV Rating: 2010-10-12
Fantastic Performer / Value Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Antenna arrived well packed and in a timely manner. The unit was installed at my home QTH to facilitate the wife communicating with Antarctica.

Assembly was easy and setup according to the instruction dimensions. On all 4 band NO further adjustment was necessary. Further I was surprised how wide the antenna is on all bands.

I was well pleased with initial contacts and further use has certainly not dissappointed. This antenna completely out performs my long - non resonant - broadband dipole.

Tony has supplied me a 5 band version of this product, and given the success of the TZ-V-4 I look forward to installing and using it whilst based in Antarctica.

Recommended.
NR7N Rating: 2010-09-05
Superb Antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I needed a low profile 10-40M vertical and was fed up with others on the market which were loaded with stubs, capacity hats and other extremities along with 100 parts that need to be assembled..

I stumbled upon the TZ-V-4 during a web search and called Tony Burt in Australia to get more info. Tony was very helpful and he sent me an owner's manual. I ordered one directly from him and it arrived in about a week. Shipping by air from Australia to Arizona was about $80 but it's well worth it.

The antenna is elegant in its simplicity and extremely well designed and built. There are only six (6) screws and four hose clamps. I had it assembled in 15 minutes. It is extremely hard to see as the top third of the antenna is only 1/2" in diameter or so. The base section is rugged and has a SO-239 at the base so a coax pigtail (which I hate) is not needed. The inductors for the three traps are very large diameter wire (No. 6?) and are covered with a thick-wall shrink tubing and the interior impregnated with some type of adhesive for weather proofing.

Initial tuneup was almost dead on with only slight adjustments on 40M and 20M needed to zero things into the phone band. It has a full 250 KHz bandwidth on 40M at the 2:1 point.

Performance has been superb with many contacts in Asia on 40M and into Europe on 20M from my Arizona QTH. It just goes to show you what properly designed linear loading can do. The antenna length is about 19' 5".

For my two cents it's the best vertical on the market.
VK4BVI Rating: 2010-08-04
Excellent performer Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Opening the package revealed a sturdy well made antenna. A bonus was ALL the required nuts, bolts and clamps were included. The antenna was assembled in 30 minutes according to the well written instructions. Elements were assembled according to the dimensions given. Mounting the antenna over a metal roof, and a check with the antenna analyser revealed the SWR on all bands was better than stated in the manufacturers specifications. This was also confimed with an SWR meter.

In operation the antenna is better than I expected, working/hearing nearly all VK call areas, as well as several US call areas.

Now if only I could get rid of all the noise and hash.