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Reviews For: N6BT Bravo 7K Vertical Dipole

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : N6BT Bravo 7K Vertical Dipole
	Reviews: 5	MSRP: 289.00
	Description: 7 band coverage: 40-30-20-17-15-12-10 manual tune 20-17-15-12-10 meters are full size setting tubing lengths High Q loading coils for 40 and 30 meters, jumper-selected inside the gasketed box About 16' tall Easy to handle sections, included tri-pod Use your own parts for the feed: 1:1 balun, coaxial RF choke, or beads. Simple construction and mostly field-repairable Lowest cost design, with no added costs such as powder coat or anodizing No lossy stainless steel whips or PVC-core coils >90-99% efficient on all bands and only 12 pounds Easily handles full legal power and can be set outside the amateur bands
	Product is in production
More Info: http://www.n6bt.com/n6bt-Bravo7K-1.htm
# last 180 days	Avg. Rating last 180 days	Total reviews	Avg. overall rating
0	0	5	4.8

KS4TL	Rating:	2015-01-12
If you operate "beach portable", get one.			Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I view this as a niche antenna, but it fills that niche very, very well. The niche? Portable operation near the sea. Take this antenna down to within a wavelength of salt water and you have a very effective low-angle radiator. It works especially well on 20-10 meters, where it is a full sized vertical with built-in elevated radials, all of telescoping aluminum tubing. No need for trees or other supports (which are hard to find on most beaches). No need to worry whether the incoming tide is going to wash away your radial field. It goes up quickly. Adjustment to the desired frequency is simple enough if you read the directions and have an antenna analyzer. Construction is simple but sturdy. Cost seams quite reasonable to me, given the current price of aluminum tubing. You do need to add a 1:1 unun or coax choke. It's a little heavy for a backpacking antenna, and once you get away from salt water, a horizontal dipole at a reasonable height would probably outperform it. But for quick seaside portable operations, it has no peer.

W9DJ	Rating:	2014-11-27
Cleverly Designed, Effective, Reasonably Priced Antenna.			Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have been using the antenna in my HOA ruled winter QTH. When I operate I put it up on the patio behind the house then take it down when I am finished. It's very close to other structures, including some with lots of metal in them. I have a very high RX noise level (not the antenna's fault). In spite of all that I have made quite a few nice contacts with 100 watts in casual operating. I can't "work everyone I hear," but I know the antenna gets out because I can talk to myself on my remote base 1700 miles away even on 40 meters at about sunset at the TX location. Because of the high RX noise level I can often copy myself on the remote base but not vice versa, so I am probably missing some calls. The antenna is compact, reasonably priced, and not very hard to set up. It came with the elements pre-marked with magic marker for the various bands and those markings are quite accurate. I will have to renew them, though, as they wear off. I have the newer version which allows band changing without opening the coil box, and added the extended tripod which raises the antenna a bit and makes it more stable in wind. I made a coax coil choke for the feedpoint, and have experienced no RF issues even when the rig is near the antenna. SWR is around 1.5:1 most of the time. I do have a portable antenna analyzer, but the marked settings on the elements are so accurate and set up is so repeatable I don't really have to use it. Others have complained that Tom is not terribly responsive to emails, which is true, but he shipped it as agreed and I am very pleased. After winter is over I plan to do an A/B test back at the summer QTH between the Bravo and my normal full sized antennas. This is a very cleverly designed antenna made to provide good performance at a reasonable price.

KI6ILX	Rating:	2013-04-01
Works great for me.			Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I've had this antenna for about a year now, and use it for portable ops while camping in my RV. It sets up, ready to run with my radio, in about 15 minutes. My MFJ analyzer finds SWR below 2 wherever I tune it. Last week, I worked NZ and Slovenia both 5/9 +... as well as a bunch of other stations... not bad from CA, my Yaesu 857D putting out only 100 watts. I'm really impressed with the antenna's performance.

KE5BAD	Rating:	2012-11-23
Great for a vertical!			Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I live in an antenna restricted HOA and had to find something that wasn't obvious from the street. After I met with Tom Schiller at Emcomm West, decided to try the Bravo-7. Having been accustomed to a beam antenna, I was delighted when I started to pull in a few European contacts. It is a bit noisy, but at least I active on HF again. I can't seem to get the SWR much below 2 on any band, but it still performs quite well. Although you may have good performance with this little antenna, don't expect much in customer service. I have emailed/texted Tom several times with a couple of questions, but he won't respond. I would still recommend this antenna to anyone who needs a discreet antenna.

K0VSH	Rating:	2011-04-02
Low profile, effective multi-band antenna			Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This antenna is comparable to the Force 12 Sigma 40XK vertical dipole (also designed by N6BT). It is significantly more convenient to use and has less visual impact, because the top T-bar has been eliminated, and the feed-point is now at the bottom. It can be easily handled by one person, and band changing can be accomplished in a few minutes. It is surprisingly effective for such a small stealthy antenna. I've operated it on 40 and 20 meters so far, and broke pileups with it-- including VU4PB on 20 meters for a new country. A good balun at the feed-point is advisable (not supplied). I use a Balun Designs 1115. I have Bravo 7K mounted in a post in the ground; however it comes with a tripod base that would be very convenient for portable use.

Category:

Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

Product:

N6BT Bravo 7K Vertical Dipole

Summary:

Rating:	Time Owned:
Great! Good OK Needs Help Poor Awful!	0 - 3 Months 3 - 6 Months 6 - 12 Months More than 12 Months

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