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Reviews For: Alpha Antenna 6-160 HF J-Pole

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Alpha Antenna 6-160 HF J-Pole
Reviews: 44MSRP: 199
Description:
The Alpha J-Pole Jr & Sr Antenna systems achieve resonance on nearly all of the HF bands and presents an SWR on the remaining bands that are low enough for external tuners to achieve a perfect match.
Product is in production
More Info: http://AlphaAntenna.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00444.9
KE4HGP Rating: 2014-08-02
Awesome Antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Put this up as a sloper,and worked DX on PSK with 35 watts.No problems what so ever.Highly recommended when space is limited.
N1ZFE Rating: 2014-05-05
An effective antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I was amazed at how flat this antenna tunes across the bands.
Have worked plenty of DX.
Great customer support. To do over, I would buy this antenna again and would replace it if need be.
KA7UOR Rating: 2014-03-18
Better than it should be! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I chose this antenna as a hidden solution for my yard. I needed a full-spectrum solution that I could install higher than the working ATAS-120A I have on a 5' mast with counterpoise.

I was able to toss a rock taped with para-cord up approx 30'. After attaching my coax run to Alpha Antenna's "balun," I pulled coax and feed-point into the tree. The distal end is tied to a flexible bush 5' off the ground.

I was very surprised that my internal tuner in the FT-450D tuned each band 120-10. That wasn't 'supposed' to happen. I believe what makes this work is having the feed point as high as possible with the ceramic distal end tied low. (Or horizontal if that works for your location.)

My first contact was Sergey, UA0FO in Asiatic Russia. I'm sitting in SW Idaho using 100 Wts. In the first hour after I pulled this antenna up I've received nothing lower than 5/9 as a signal response.

There are bigger, 'better' antennas out there for certain. However, for my needs -- a full spectrum antenna that my rig can tune allowing for clear send/rcv -- This solution does it all. I fully recommend this affordable antenna for its functionality and in how it's backed by great customer support.

Thanks Alpha!
AB3FW Rating: 2014-02-17
Works well. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I recently moved to a deed-restricted community in Florida and had not a clue about how I was going to get back on the air again. I heard about the Sr model which was only 35 feet long and I thought that at least I could string that up in my attic. My expectations were not high, but after being on the air foe two days, I worked Austria this morning on 10 meters using an Icom 7200 and 100 watts. I am pleased.
KC9BOZ Rating: 2013-12-20
6-160 Sr Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The Senior works great! Great reports, 20 over on all the bands with just 100 watts.
WA0URJ Rating: 2013-12-04
Alpha 6-160 SR Antenna Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I received one of the first Alpha 6-160 SR antenna's and thought there was NO way this antenna would work or radiate a signal at only 34 length of wire. I was impressed with the matching unit which was much bigger than the one with my Alpha 6-160 Jr antenna. I installed the antenna and much to my SURPRISE my internal tuner on my FT-950 tuned this antenna on ALL bands 160 - 6 meters. It is one thing to tune it is another thing to communicate. On 75 meters I was able to test my vertical, my Alpha 6-160 Jr., and the Alpha 6-160 SR antenna. Hands down I received the BEST signal report on the Alpha 6-160 SR antenna. I was truly AMAZED ! I would recommend this antenna especially to someone that is space challenged.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by WA0URJ on 2012-04-19

I just purchased an Alpha 6-160 antenna. At first I wasn't impressed but after doing some work with Steve (the owner of the company) I found out that my old LDG tuner had created memories and wouldn't tune the antenna. I purchased a new YT-100 tuner and WOW...it tunes everything perfect ! In fact I do NOT need a tuner for 40, 20, 15, 10 or 6 meters. The antenna works perfect on these bands. I only need a tuner for 160, 80, and 17 meters. This is probably one of the best antenna's that I have used in my 48 years as a HAM operator. If you're looking for a general purpose all band antenna then look no further. THIS IS IT ! You will not be diappointed. On another note the customer service from Steve is over the top ! He is without a doub the best in customer service and follow up. This company should receive the HAM Radio Customer Service Award of 2012 (if there is such any award). FYI with the YT-100 tuner this antenna tunes all my MARS frequencies as well.
NU6Y Rating: 2013-11-18
Jr and Sr both awesome Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I originally purchased a Jr. About a year ago. Steve at Alpha was able to give me some great ideas on where to install as a roof top antenna. Out of the box, it was a quick and easy installation. The SWR on all bands makes it tunable on all frequencies. I was locked on to Hawaii SSB with 100 watts right away 59's. So pleased with the Jr, I purchased a Sr, about six months ago. The Sr went up with the same if not better results. The Jr. Comes with a storage frame and is now my portable antenna. The Sr now has me talking to Japan, and the east coast from California. It has a permanent place on my roof.
The jr is only rated for 200 watts, but the sr is rated for 750 watts. The Sr is a bit noisier, but not out of line as it is quieter than my G5RV . The sr also gets better reception than the G5RV.
This antenna has not been approved by the XYL, but she doesn't even know it exists. Stealth
K7CPY Rating: 2013-10-30
This antenna continues to amaze me Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Follow-up review
This review is a follow-up to my original review posted in August 2013. It is for the Junior (Jr). I have no experience with the Senior (Sr) version.

My original rating still stands. It continues to perform and it amazes me with the results I obtain.

I am located in a local valley, surrounded by mountains. Ground conditions are dry and rocky. I run about 40' of LMR400 to get to the antenna. It is set-up as a permanent installation. It runs from a tree as an Inverted L in a N/S orientation. The only addition I have made is a ground system running from the LMR400/antenna PL-259 connection to a 8' grounding rod, located at the base of the tree. Besides providing some lightening protection, some day I plan to experiment with radials attached to the grounding rod.

I use a MFJ-969 tuner. Most of my experience has been with 75, 40, & 20 meters. On 40 & 20 I can obtain a 1:1 SWR. The best I can obtain on 80m is a 2.5:1 SWR. 2:1 is a loss of about 1/2 db so I find that acceptable. Since the SWR can be affected by a number of factors, your mileage may vary.

The last couple of months, I have been on the 75, 40, 20, and 15m bands running 100w on the OMISS Net (www.omiss.net). OMISS is a primarily a WAS and awards net. A great group of people by the way.

After a few evenings, I am only 8 states away from my 40m OMISS WAS award. From my "Big Sky" state of Montana, I have worked Hawaii, Alaska to Florida, California to New Hampshire, and Canada to Texas. My personal favorite was WL7X in North Pole, Alaska.

The downside to this antenna is that there is no local bragging rights. There is no tower or revolving Yagi. No magic Christmas tree looking affair. It's a simple black wire running from a tree, to the railing on my deck. My neighbors haven't notice it and if I point it out, the response is, "Oh". It certainly isn't impressive looking. The other downside is that it doesn't operate very well as a NVIS (at least how I have it configured) and now the wife doesn't understand why I need another antenna.

For what some would call a "compromise" antenna, I couldn't be happier. It's producing results.

*** August 2013 Review ***
My Alpha J-Pole Jr is set up on a permanent basis as an Inverted L. It hangs from a tree, about 20 feet above the ground. From Montana, I was able to bust a pileup with Croatia using 100w. It's a keeper.
W1WI Rating: 2013-10-30
Excellant! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Have the Jr. I was looking for a simple low maintenace antenna to get on HF. Have mine up 22' at feed point and sloped to 12' at other end. With Palstar Tuner, I can easily tune 6 - 160 <1 SWR or in most cases 0 SWR. Talked to South America, Western Europe all of USA. 100 watts or less. Excellant materials, will stand up to any weather
KC9SXB Rating: 2013-09-01
Resolved issues with the Alpha JPole Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I had issues with the 75 foot J-Pole not performing well when compared A/B to my G5RV on the local nets. I hope my story provides insight to others who might be experiencing similar issues. A call to Alpha Antenna provided me with an installation change/suggestion. At first I figured the J-Pole simply wasn't working. My main issue was that the net operator just 180 miles away read my signal as only half the strength as my G5RV. I can also state that the G5RV provided a better transmit & receive on DX. Alpha's suggestion was based upon their premise that the majority of power on end fed antennas is radiated from the first 30% of the antenna. As it turns out, feed point placement is critical to the performance of their antenna. I not only had the feed point too close to my gutter, but all of my antenna under the eave of my roof. Basically, all of my signal was being absorbed by the gutter and house. Once I moved the feed point about two feet higher than the edge of the roof and kept the rest of it free of obstacles the net control operator said he couldn't tell any difference between the G5RV and the J-Pole. I still had another issue with the J-Pole though, which was the DX performance wasn't nearly as strong as the G5RVs. So, one more call to Alpha Antenna was made. This time I talked to the owner, Steve, who nailed what the problem was with only a short description of my issue. Turns out that when the J-Pole is installed flat-top the NVIS is accentuated and DX is reduced. Makes sense now that I see it in practice. Anyways, Steve said that if I wanted to maximize the NVIS and DX performance of the J-Pole, then I should install it as a sloper with the feed point at the highest apex. With both of my problems solved, I rate their antenna a 4.5 because it took some work to make things happen in the manner I expected them to.