| KB6HOH |
Rating:  |
2024-12-13 | |
| Bad Matching |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have owned this Antenna since 2021.
This is my Winlink Gateway Ant scanning from 80m-10m and has worked very well until just recently when the SWR shot off the scale on all bands. After doing all trouble shooting it turned out to be a bad Matching unit. I run only 25watts. No lighting strikes or anything else like that. Was not looking forward to buying a new Ant in the $400 range. Went back to where I bought it at R&L Electronics and they did not have any in stock BUT they do sell the Matching unit for $99.95. Bought one and now I'm back in Biz. Was wondering if anyone else has had problems with theirs. 73 de Steve KB6HOH |
|
| KG7EJU |
Rating: |
2019-10-12 | |
| Works now! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Good HOA antenna...hiding in the trees. Definitely not a cubical quad on a 50 foot mast, but useful for a hidden antenna. Base coil was open upon receipt, Gigaparts and Jetstream quickly shipped me a new coil, replacement easy. SWRs average 1.5 for 9 ham bands from 160 to 6 meters.
|
|
| KD5LZ |
Rating: |
2017-06-07 | |
| Vey good, low noise too. |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Just put up this antenna on a 4 foot tall 2.5" steel fence post couple weeks ago, my only comparison is a very highly rated end fed. So far so good, low swr across the bands, tunes easily by the FT-450D and is has an extremely quiet noise floor. My end fed with a 1/1 choke oriented in an "L" with the long leg horizontal at 25' has a consistently 3 s-units higher noise floor with signals maybe a db or 2 stronger. I thought verticals were the noisy ones?
Excellent construction throughout, assembled in 5 minutes with a little ox-guard on the section threads to keep them lubricated. Looks very professional with the fiberglass radome, chrome section fittings and powder coated mount/coil enclosure.
Transmit reports on 20 are good, higher frequencies have been dead anytime i'm operating. The end fed seems better on 40 as I expected but i'm very happy with this antenna. Works great for SWL too because it's so quiet. |
|
| KA5EBL |
Rating: |
2017-04-30 | |
| Looks Good to Me |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Just put up this antenna. The base of it is about 9 feet off the ground. I plan to put it up about 25 feet before too long. I used a metric ruler to make the adjustments needed. Used a Daiwa CN-720B SWR/Power meter and all bands are just about flat. SWR barely went to 1.1. Haven't been on the air with it yet so I'll add to this after I get to use for a while. |
|
| KE4I |
Rating: |
2017-04-14 | |
| 4 |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I've had the JTV680 about 14 days and I'm satisfied. It is a compromise antenna, but works very well with that known.
When I first received my antenna it didn't work. The coil at the bottom was defective and I call Jet Stream and they were very nice and helpful. I returned just the coil and they turned it around immediately and I installed the new coil and it worked like they said it would.
I've used it for about 14 days and made 23 contacts on 6, 10, 17, 20, 40 and 80 meters. Not to good on 80. I have it ground mounted with no radials and I use the tuner on 17 meters. The other bands I don't need to.
I've worked DX and state side stations. I don't get the best reports, but it does work. I am pleased with mine and the service from Jet Stream. I would not recommend it to someone who wants ideal performance, especially with the bands in the shape they are in now. It does work well for a compromise antenna though. I work locally on 10 metes talking to local hams, but have not had an opening to try it beyond that.
One final comment. With the sun spot cycle the way it is causing poor band conditions, it may not be the best time to give a review. With better band conditions I'm sure I would give a more positive review. With that being said, I am still pleased with mine and plan on using it for a long time. I am very satisfied with the structure of the antenna and I recommend it for someone who has limited space and would like to work most of the bands. Remember, not good on 80, but others do very well. |
|
| W6KKO |
Rating: |
2017-04-02 | |
| Glad to see it go |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I used this antenna for well over a year. I picked it up in 2012.
- Yes, the SWR looks good on the bands it covers = 1 point
- Yes, I was able to transmit and receive with it = 1 point
- Reception was poor when compared to OCF and IMAX 2000
- Transmission was surpassed by an OCF and an IMAX 2000
It is easy to deploy, but it is just too much of a compromise. I tried it out at various elevations up to 33', with and without a choke balun using LMR-400 coax.
After two years it came down. It was not even a good solution as a receive only antenna. There are those that have talked up this antenna elsewhere and I know for fact they no longer own it.
I later rigged up a mobile deployment system that will easily get an OCF inverted V antenna into the air and handle multiple bands. If one is restricted then they do not have many options. I've talked around the world using an OCF antenna. The JTV-680 did not afford me that same result. Again, I am not comparing this antenna to a Yagi.
I sold mine at a considerable discount to an operator that wanted an easy solution for his motor home when parked; compromise was the motivation for the buyer. I wonder if he still has it. |
|
| KC5JVJ |
Rating: |
2015-08-14 | |
| Glad to have it! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I erected my JTV-680 3 days ago. This is the 4th antenna on my small "farm." The rest are wire antennas. I wanted it mainly so I could use 80 meters (which I didn't have available).
It went together smoothly, assembling it exactly to spec using a pair of digital dial calipers. The single pictorial assembly sheet dimensions are all in metric values. Raising the assembly among narrow openings in oak branches above was a bit of a challenge. It is mounted on a 15-foot vertical angle iron with 10-foot mast. I wound 10 turns of RG-213/U around a 2-litre soda bottle and attached that air choke directly to the antenna feed point.
No stray RF on my field strength meter. Today I am going out to drive in a ground rod and attach it to the mast just for good measure since the unit is designed with no radials.
SWRs are 1.1 - 1.2 throughout ALL the bands using my LDG Pro II Autotuner. I was amazed when I got a 1:1 match across all of 160 meters! THE DOGGONE THING IS ONLY ADVERTISED AS AN 80M-10M ANTENNA...
So far I have used it only on 80, 40, 20 and 18m SSB. It hears almost as well as my multi-dipole, Windom and random end-fed wire antennas used for these bands, usually down 1-2 S-units.
I was a little disappointed when I couldn't get strong-sounding 80m stations to come back to me.
But I understand sending 100W over a 360 degree pattern is not exactly a prescription for success using only 100W, although I am looking forward to great 80m propagation opportunities. I certainly am happy even with this compromise.
I now have 160m and 80m and can use it as a back up for all other bands. For $229 from Gigaparts and no shipping fee I couldn't be any happier with this purchase.
On one QSO my transmitted 20m signal was 3 S-units less than when using my Alpha Delta DX-EE multiple dipole.
All things considered, I am quite happy with this purchase! It's only been a little bit of operating over 3 days, so I will update this report soon.
- Jeff |
|
| N3ORX |
Rating: |
2015-06-28 | |
| Worked surprisingly well |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I needed a vertical to replace one that had gotten bent pretty badly in a windstorm (it was a cheap one, and you get what you pay for). I also wanted one that would go up quick and would come apart easy for transport, and yet worked a lot of bands without a lot of tuning and adjustment. Looked at the CHA 250, but thought it was a bit more than I wanted to pay for a non-permanentt antenna. Then someone recommended this one. Well, I hemmed and hawed and fiddled around, and finally, the Monday before Field Day I ordered it. It arrived Friday afternoon, and as luck would have it, we were having a thunderstorm. So putting it together and putting it up would have to wait. Saturday morning I went out to put it up, it went together quickly and easily. I mounted it temporarily on my deck, ran some coax, and checked the SWR. I was quite surprised how good it was on most bands. 80 was 1.8, 40 was 1.6, 15 and 20 it was 1.1, 10 mtrs it was 2.0 and 6 meters 2.5. I figured that was not too bad and with my LDG autotuner, should do fine.
So FD starts and I am on 15 meters. First station out of the box was a KH6 in Hawaii....this was on the JTV680 and running 75 watts. He reported a clear, true 5-8 signal. Yay, I'm happy. 15 kept busy and this antenna kept working the west..up and down the coast. Maui twice. Then the band shifted a bit and it was up and down the east coast. I'm liking this antenna. Went to 20 and it was chaos, but got a few calls in and the antenna worked great. Same on 40. It didn't like 10 too much and it was about dead on 6. With the tuner, however, it worked on those bands also. Went back to 15 as that band was still real busy and continued to work until the band died.
With no counterpoises or radials, I was very surprised at how well it worked. Yes, it is a compromise antenna, but it is a good compromise. it seems to be well made with quality materials, so I don't think you will go wrong with it. |
|
| VE2CCF |
Rating: |
2013-12-09 | |
| Questionable- not impressed |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I have installed this antenna apprx 1.5 months ago and was told that height does not influence its performance ( From Jetstream directly) I have it mounted 10 ft off the ground and have installed 6 counterpoise wires at various lengths. using Rg213 cable. 80 & 40m seem to be the best - all other bands sound extremely quiet almost like no antenna is present?? rx signals are also low rarely see s9+ anywhere? I am going to try to raise it up to 30ft in hopes that it will help. |
|
| KR4PC |
Rating: |
2013-10-02 | |
| It'll do ... until I can rig something better |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Simple assembly. Fairly rugged construction.
I find it effective at my QTH for TX/RX on 40,20,17,15. Rx on 30 seems ok, but I don't have a key. Rx on 160 & 80 ok.
Tx on 160/80 impossible. Too short.
Rx/Tx on 12 & 10 poor. Rarely hear anything there except very strong sigs. I still can't reach them.
Don't have 6M on my rig, can't report.
It's not an "all band" antenna for sure. A compromise. Not as pricey as some. Since I do not have space to locate a ground-mount vertical and radials, this was a nice "no radial" compromise.
I can't help thinking if I did an AA1P "all band" counterpoise (Google it) how much better it might do. May have to try it. |
|
