Greetings all! I received this gift as a Birthday gift from my brother. I live in an HOA that has a no outdoor antennas rule, so I planned this installation in the attic.
Unboxing and Assembly
I’m using this with the Yaesu FTM-6000R I got for Christmas from my XYL, who is certainly my better half 😀
The antenna was very well packaged, and well protected with heavy reinforcements in the box to prevent bending.
Upon unpacking, I found all the pieces. The manufacturing was clean, no burrs or other concerns. The tips have nice red protectors on them. The threads all fit nicely. The assembly instructions were clear and easy to follow.
Once I test fit everything to my satisfaction, I removed and added electrical grease to prevent electrolysis and aid disassembly, should I ever take it apart. As this is considered a permanent fixture at the QTH, that is unlikely… none the less, better safe than sorry.
Mounting
Once assembled, I installed at its permanent position in the attic, in one of the southern facing dormer windows.
The mast is an extra 1¼” dowel rod I had from a curtain project. I set it in a 5 gallon Atwoods bucket with about 20 pounds of redi-mix.
Testing
Once hooked up, I ran antenna analyzer from feed point to the antenna. The antenna lives up to the pretuned boast well. I have sub-optimal feedline… way too long for the current installation, and low quality Amazon stuff I bought back in the early days. Having said that, pretty respectable numbers.
| On 2 meters | On 70 cm |
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I’ll take it 😀
I’m easily hitting the RCWA repeater in Claremore, 20 miles or so away at half power and am coming through loud and clear. For less than $100 delivered, really hard to beat this deal. I’m extremely happy with it and would recommend to anyone looking for a good VHF/UHF dual band antenna.
73 till next time,
KI5WWP