| KQ4AVP |
Rating:  |
2024-02-17 | |
| Great Antenna...It just works! |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| Got this antenna in May 2023 and it has been my go-to POTA antenna for several activations plus up for a few months as alternative home antenna. This thing rocks. It is built very well and does a great job on the bands it is rated for without the need for a tuner. Solid performer and would recommend! |
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| KN4QBZ |
Rating: |
2023-09-23 | |
| Great Product - Great Support |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I have been impressed with the antenna, but I sent a message to Tech Support on Saturday afternoon and got a very professional response within the hour. So, I just had to buy a JR-34' to try it in the attic of my house. Great product. Great support. |
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| AC8HZ |
Rating: |
2023-06-26 | |
| Used for portable |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have used this antenna for the past 2 years for field day. It has performed well with out any failures. The construction on the unit is top notch and will give you many years of good service.
My set up is using a 33 foot mast and sloping it down to a tie off and as the instructions mention to keep that as high off the ground, this year it was about 10 foot off ground at field day. I was able to tune this with my internal tuner on my 7300. |
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| WB2MSB |
Rating: |
2022-07-23 | |
| Works well |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
UPDATE July 2022:
Still very happy with the Alpha J-Pole (full size).
It worked well through the lul of the last solar cycle and now that things are picking up, its still serving well on Long Island up about 20 feet above sea level.
I purchased a second one to use at our home in Vermont up on a 1200 foot "hill" and it works just as well or better than the 135 foot end fed multiband also in service at that QTH. The Alpha actually is better on 60, 80 and 160 meters with a tuner.
This is a useful antenna and I have suggested it for several new hams who wanted to get on the air quickly.
Easy to put up, and put back up if Wx or trees take it down.
Isn't this a great hobby? And its one that could come in very handy when the Zombies or Aliens invade!
73
I strung up this end fed wire from the eve of the house at about 18 feet above ground to an eye screw in a tree at about 14 feet. Using an LDG IT-100 I was able to tune to better than 1.5:1 on all bands 80-6. I didn't try 160. First QSO was France on 20m and then Florida on 40 and Virginia on 80. I'm on Long Island (New York). It works. The wire is heavier then most end feds and dipoles but the supplied insulators are adequate and using a pulley to hoist it up allows ice to be shaken off if needed. I'm happy with it. |
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| K0PDS |
Rating: |
2021-11-11 | |
| Great multi band antenna! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
6-80 METER J-POLE JR 34 FOOT END FED HF ANTENNA
Just a note of Thanks and Gratitude for a super antenna! I'm a new Ham (Tech in April and General in June) and needed an antenna for HF and wow does it do the job! I've reached all up and down the East coast, worked all 13 Colonies over the 4th of July weekend and it gets me out to CA and up into Canada all on 100 watts from central Missouri. Oh, and it’s mounted in the attic too!! 73 K0PDS
UPDATE 11-11-2021: Still working GREAT! This is my permanent HF antenna, still in the attic mounted horizontally run through a MFJ-945E Tuner. I've worked 10, 15, 17, 20, 40, 80 and 160 Meters with it including some nice DX. From central Missouri-USA I've worked: Moscow, New Zealand, Argentina, Brazil, Canada to Uruguay and lots in between plus several in Eastern Europe and Hawaii all on 100 watts. I love this thing and plan to put one in my antenna go bag to use when on the "Go"!! |
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| K6GBW |
Rating: |
2021-07-12 | |
| Surprising Mystery |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
So, I was intrigued by this antenna. After all, it's CALLED a J-Pole, but is it really? I mean, it looks like a non-resonant end fed with an Unun. But what is this second wire? Could it be a built-in counterpoise made from zip cord? At the end of the day, I couldn't figure it out, so I bought one just to see what it is. Once I got it, I put it up as a sloper at 26 feet slopping down to about 12 feet, in a northeasterly direction from Los Angeles. At first I thought there was something wrong with it. On twenty meters there was virtually no noise. I changed to forty meters and starting picking up some signals. Turns out this antenna is just exceptionally quiet. I fully expected to need my external tuner with this antenna, but I decided to see what the SWR was without one. I was surprised to find the following:
80 = 1.4
40 = 2.0
20 = 2.0
17 = 1.1
15 = 1.4
12 = 1.1
10 = 1.8
Are you kidding me? I can use this thing with no tuner whatsoever? Loving it! So, I ran the radio's internal tuner (Yaesu FT-991A), and it tuned all bands quickly and easily. No external tuner was needed!
On to testing! In the middle of the day I quickly made several contacts on both twenty and forty meters. I talked to Central Utah on twenty meters and, even though the signal was only about S4, it was an easy copy because of the super low noise floor. Over the next hour I made contacts to Texas, Washington State and Northern California. We had a windy day here but I didn't notice any static on the receiver. This thing does great at bleeding off static.
I ended up tuning around on seventy five meters later in the evening. I didn't expect much with a 34 foot antenna but, to my surprise, I was hearing stations in Arizona, NorCal and Nevada. I ended up talking NVIS to a friend 35 miles to the north and it worked fine. Some random checks with a station about 120 miles to my north revealed that on seventy five meters it works reasonably well for what it is. So you won't be competing with the guys running big loops and legal limit power, but you will be heard.
At the end of the day, this antenna works and works pretty well. Its not a beam or a high dipole but, if you're like me and live on a postage stamp size lot, then this will do the job nicely!
PS: I still don't know what's inside the transformer. It's likely a 9:1 or possibly a 5:1 Unun and the second wire is likely a counterpoise. The Unun is built very heavy and is sealed, so I'd have to destroy it to take it apart. So for now, whatever it is will remain a mystery. But whatever it is, it works well!
Update July 12, 2021:
After using this antenna for a year I can give the following further information. I compared it to a 40 meter dipole at 30 feet and found the signal to be down about 1.5 S units. The antenna seems to work better on the higher bands but is very usable down to 40 meters for regional communications. On 80 meters it hears very well but is weak on transmit. In the end, this antenna is a compromise and best used for quick temporary setups. It definitely works best as a sloper with the transformer as high as you can possibly get it. Slope the wire down toward the direction you want to talk and it can do a little DX. Again, 20 meters and up is your friend here. Also, the way it is constructed makes it difficult to hang. The coax almost always points up which will make it vulnerable to water, so if using it as a permanent antenna then take great care to seal the coax connection really well. I wonder if the guts of the transformer were placed into a square NEMA type box if it wouldn't hang better. If using this as a temporary antenna then there is little problem. |
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| AG5QE |
Rating: |
2021-05-26 | |
| Made a Contact in Panama from North Texas |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I purchased the HF J-Pole antenna from Alpha Antenna because I have a small yard and had enough room to set it up as a sloper. Yesterday I turned on my Yaesu FT-450D with the J-Pole connected. I was set on 28.460 MHz usb and I heard a call. At first I just caught the last three letters of the call. I replied to the caller and ask them to repeat their callsign.He came back with HP9SAM from Panama, I almost fell off my chair, my very first voice call outside of the U.S.
WOW !! This will be my 1st solar cycle as a ham, I was told that Cycle 25 was beginning but I never dreamed I would pick up a call over 2000 miles away on my little sloper, I am stunned and eagerly awaiting to see what the rest of the cycle brings us.
I own four Alpha Antennas, the FMJ vertical, the Alpha Loop, the portable yagi and the J-Pole and have had great results from all of them. I want to thank Steve and his crew for developing such great products. |
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| AI7GN |
Rating: |
2021-05-09 | |
| Review of 34’ 6-80m J Pole Jr |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I got the 34’ J-Pole, deployed it on a tripod last evening and was very pleased with the results. Only needed an external tuner on 80m but my FT991a tuned the rest fine. Heard France @ 5x8 on 20 meters and 5x20 when I kicked in the preamp. The Antenna analyzer I used matched advertised specs on the product page. It’s a good, viable, commercial HOA antenna. Worth the $.
Thanks to other e-ham reviewers for convincing me on this one.
AI7GN |
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| WB0YX |
Rating: |
2021-03-22 | |
| This review is for the 6 thru 80 meter J-Pole Jr. |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
This review is for the 6 thru 80 meter J-Pole Jr.
*At 34 foot long this antenna at a 80 degree sloping angle does not need a tuner other than to tweak the SWR. To be honest it is just to to bring the SWR down 1 or 1.2.
*I have had this antenna in the original plastic bag for 5 years or more and bought it as a field deployable combined with a 50' MFJ 1908HD mast. I had both of them up for sale here new, but no one bought them so I decided to set them up. I am so glad I did, as it ended up being just a one man deployable antenna.
*I have worked a lot of DX and Stateside stations. Very low noise antenna. I wish I had the room for the J-Pole Sr. version now! Maybe someday. I have a YouTube channel that you can search my call sign, as I understand direct clickable links are not allowed here. My videos are pretty in-depth about this antenna.
*Since I have put it up I have also purchased a fully optioned out Alpha Antenna Pro Master and their FMJ version. I live in a HOA and so far they have not said anything to me about this antenna. Alpha makes some HOA friendly solutions that may work for you as well as they are working for me.
*Now for the biggest positive of all!!!! Tech support!!!! I have made a huge amount of calls to tech support and they are glad to help and I would say eager to do so. Explaining things to me and suggesting ways to make the product as efficient as it can be in my location and restrictions. Many pictures were sent to tech support showing my situation.
*I also have a 2 story home that is completely aluminum sided. I have been able to install the J-Pole Jr. 20 foot from the house and the antenna does not care. The SWR's are low. The Reports are awesome and the hardest part of all this is writing this review. |
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| KD4KK |
Rating: |
2020-04-13 | |
| Big Performance in a Small Package |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Alpha J-Pole Jr.
This 34-foot end-fed antenna is my second Alpha Antenna. (Please take a look at my review for the FMJ Multiband Vertical Portable.) I am antenna challenged in that I live in a neighborhood that has challenging restrictions. My preference would have been for the Sr. version but I could not accommodate 60 feet. Accordingly, I opted for the 34-foot end-fed J-Pole Jr. It is recommended to mount the feed end at 30 feet and slope the low end to 10 feet. I conferred with Steve at Alpha Antenna as to the limitations I was facing and a variety of other questions. As always, he was responsive and his advice was very helpful.
I mounted the feed end in an oak tree at approximately 25 feet and sloped the low end to a lower branch. The antenna is oriented east-west. I wasn’t sure how it would perform in that I could not get it as high as I would have liked. However, it has performed well. My current interest is digital (FT-8 and JS8) running 20 watts. The experience with this antenna has been limited as of this review but just this past weekend (with poor band conditions) I was able to log contacts from Venezuela (1811 miles), Columbia (1832 miles), Canada (835 miles), Cuba (639 miles), Seattle (2,424 miles) and Italy (4,630 miles). I had one contact from a Ukraine station that was operating as a marine mobile. Ukraine is 8446 miles from my QTH but I don’t know where he was on the high seas.
I am very pleased with this antenna. At only 34 feet it has demonstrated superior results with a low power rig. As I indicated in my FMJ review, the customer service from Steve at Alpha Antenna is excellent and the products are high quality.
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