|
|
Equipment
for portable HF operations
(Trans)portable
HF antennas (III)
In
the second table displayed below, I have listed larger antennas,
mostly designed for a semi-permanent installation. All meet our
requirements and belong to our scope even if some look huge.
First
requisit, most of these antennas display a high gain very appreciated
by DXers. Only drawback it is paid by the size. The best are of course
bulky displaying a wingspan that can reach 10 meters for wire beams.
Plus side, many of them offer a lightweight below 10 kg,
a load that each of us can lift without much problem (as we said it is
equivalent to a 8-10m long aluminium ladder) and that can
be supported by a relatively light mast, even a large pole with guy
wires, hence their selection in this category.
Some
models however are heavier, up to 17 kg for the Degen's Baby
Boomer Quad (BBQ) what is at the limit of the weight that an alone person
can lift. If the BBQ can still be assembled and erected on a mast
fixed at ground level by one person (working some hours for the first
assembly), its installation with a rotator ontop of a pylon or on a
sloping roof should require at least two persons for security reasons.
 |
 |
|
Whaow
! Two examples of antennas at the limit of
portability. They are however portable due to either
their lightweight or their pre-assembling. At left, here
is to what looks like closely a 5-bander Titanex
LP5 log-periodic beam once all 25 elements assembled.
Its wingspan reaches 10.3m. Not easy to handle such a
size alone and to lift it up to the roof, but the task
is not impossible. At right a few minutes after
have opened the package containing the Degen Baby
Boomer Quad BBQ 101520. It comes pre-tuned and
pre-strung. If you are used to
assemble/disassemble it you can erect it alone in about 20 min. That can't be easier !
But this picture is misleading, because like all
quads, even shortened, the BBQ is bulky and its weight
is close to 17 kg. Documents ON4AGP
and Degen. |
|
Why
have selected these "monsters" for portable operations,
do you wonder ? Sometimes, on holiday or when participating to Field Days
and other CQ WW activities, a simple dipole or a short vertical does not allow
you to get high scores or to contact far DX stations due to a poor
gain and radiation pattern. You can also be on the
spot for a few days or weeks and if you are considered as one among
the "most wanted DX" and want to give points to amateurs, you have
to be on the air as often as possible during this short period. In these special
occasions a true vertical (cut at least at 1/2l or at 5/8l) or a
directional antenna showing a very low takeoff angle (5-15°) is very
appreciated, all the more if it is light, cheap or easy to install.
At
last, purists will say that an antenna equipped with traps is not
more performing and loses power. Indeed, a trap inserted on an
antenna reduces the power between 0.003-0.005 dB on 28.6 MHz and
between 0.4 and 1.5 dB on 7.15 MHz. With 2 traps on 40m, you lose up
to 3 dB or 50% of your power ! In the field we observe that the
radiation efficiency can drop of 30% using only one trap of large
size (but I will not extend on this matter as they are many ways to
build traps). But between you and me what is the best solution ?
Working with a dipole or a vertical without trap or with a beam
equipped with 2 traps to reduce a little its wingspan ? Of course
one will always select the beam for its directivity and higher gain.
Therefore, all antennas listed below satisfy to at least one of the
previous critera.
If
you work alone and have some times left, each of these models can be
assembled in half a day or quicker in following strictly the
instruction manual. But do no expect to dismantle them as easily and
as fast as antennas displayed in the previous selection as some
of them require the assembling of 25 segments (e.g. the 5-element
Titanex log-periodic) ! These antennas have to be
considered as trans-portable models rather than portables, so in
other words for semi-permanent installations. The shade is of
importance.
Here is my selection. A summary is available in this
Excel sheet and here is a currency
converter. Unless I wrote the contrary, remember that all
gain values are those from the manufacturer and are subject to
correction...up to 2 dB less than the value listed.
(Trans)portable
HF antennas
|
Model |
Price |
Comments |
|
KVK
NU-Beam |
$485 |
KVK
is an australian company specialized in wire antennas. They
sell Quads, Vipoles and wire beams.
The
NU-Beam is an hybrid taking advantages of the loop antenna
and a 2-element Yagi but twice as shorter and lighter.
Made
of low cost material and offering a low profile, it
uses full-size dipole elements. There are no traps but
linear-loading to make the lower HF antennas like 30m
and 20m models smaller.
By
default this is a mono-band (15, 17, 20, 30 or 40m)
but can be ordered as a 4 bander. The 40m NU-Beam is
quasi a square of 8.8x8.6m side (5.5x5.3m on 20m) and
its weight is only 2.4 kg that can be supported by any
small telescopic mast.
Its gain reaches
6 dBd with a F/B ratio of 8 dB. No info about the SWR
but it should be close to 1:1. According the manufacturer
this antenna yields an extra 2 S-points when it is mounted
at only 6m high compared to a dipole at
similar heights.
One
example of ham design are DK7ZB's
and VE3RGW's
wire-beams. Price is in US$, shipment included from VK. |
|
Hex-beam |
$880
|
Hex-beam
is another model of wire beam. Smaller
than a quad, this unusual 2-element shortened
beam can be ordered as mono or multi-bands,
for permanent or portable operations.
The
hex-beam 5 bander is designed to work between 20-10m but
can be tuned on 40m too. Minus side you can only work
one band at a time has you have to lowering the mast
and change elements. The
mono-band elements yield a gain of 4 dBd with a F/B
ratio exceeding 20 dB. Tested in the field against a
2-element delta loop, the Hex-beam reports an
excellent rejection of QRM, a lesser sensitivity to
fading and better signal reports.
Very light in
the Hex-pac version (3 kg), it is easily installed ontop of a
small mast. However the first assembly can last over 1
hour. This is not too long when we know that some of
its competitors request half a day or more. Some models support up to
1.5 kW PEP in SSB. |
|
DF4SA's
Spider beam |
260€ |
Cornelius,
alias DF4SA sells this wire beam in kit for a very
affordable price compared to other commercial models.
It is also available at WiMo.
This is the first reason for which I included it in this review.
This is a real 3 bander, 20-15-10m beam using respectively 3, 3 and
4 aluminium elements placed in V along the boom.
The
weight of this beam is about 5.5 kg. It offers a gain of 4.3 dBd on 20m and
a F/B ratio over 17.8 dB.
Minus side, the
wingspan of this antenna is huge, 10 m, and it requires some hours to
be assembled. So I see better this huge wire beam in a semi-permanent
installation than in the field for a one day shot. |
|
Antenna
D2T |
513€ |
The
D2T is manufactured by GIOVANNINI Elettromeccanica.
This is the first wire beam antenna offering a continous coverage
between 1.5 and 200 MHz at my knowledge. Its
competitor is another italian company, PKW
that sells multi-bands log periodics, quads and other
multi-band dipole.
In
SSB the D2T supports 1kW PEP in HF and up to 500W PEP in VHF.
DT2
displays a boom 2m long, the longest element is 6m long
and its weight is 8 kg, specs suited for restrictive spaces
and portable operations. This is an hybrid between a dipole
and a 2-element Yagi, constituted of two dipoles folden fed and dephased by
180°, fed with 50-ohm coax. Its mean SWR is 1.5:1.
According
to DM2BLE this directive antenna offers a gain up to 1.7 dBd on 10 meters with a
F/B ratio of 5 dB and a F/S ratio of 20 dB. However on 20 meters this antenna
appeared to perform similar to a dipole (0.3 dBd) or the HF5B
beam described below. Its gain declines as the frequency decreases
but where it continues to show a very low radiation angle.
In lower bands its main competitor is the full length
G5RV-E or the GAP VI vertical.
In VHF
it performs quite well, showing a 6-lobes radiation pattern.
D2T can be
purchased directly in Italy or at WiMo
in Germany. Its price is 580€ at WSPLC. |
|
Cushcraft
MA5B |
$365 |
The
Cushcraft beam model MA5B is a new concept, designed
for amateurs wishing to work in limited space.
This
shorten Yagi is a true 5 bander which weight is only 12 kg that
can be easily driven by a mid-range rotator. It cover bands
from 20 to 10m including WARC, handling a power of
1.2kW PEP in SSB.
The
boom length is 2.2m and the longest element is 5.2m
long. It is made of elements from 0.2 to 2.1m long.
Longer X-hat rods measure about 1m long.
According
to DM2BLE, this beam displays a 3.9 dBd on 20 m and 3.6 dBd on
10m, showing on WARC bands a gain similar to the one of a
dipole (~0 dBd). Its F/B ratio reaches 22 dB on 20m and
falls down to 10 dB on 10m. Its F/S ratio is 25 dB.
Plus
side the hardware is made of stainless steel and heavy
aluminium, the assembly manual is very well written,
as usual, and its price is very competitive. Its
price is 565€ to WSPLC,
500€ to Maes
Electronics. |
|
Butternut
HF5B Butterfly |
$450 |
Butternut
model HF5B is probably the shortest five-band beam available on the market, covering
bands from 20 to 10m including WARC at 1.2 kW PEP in
SSB. It has been designed for hams working in a limited space.
This is a
2-element beam offering a wingspan of 3.8m, vertical
spreaders 1.8m long and a boom 1.8m long. Its weight
is only 10 kg and it can be driven by the smallest TV rotor
you can find.
Its gain is 3 dBd on 20 m and up to 5 dBd on all other
bands except 17 m where it acts as a rotary dipole. Its F/B ratio
reaches 20 dB and the F/S is 25 dB. It displays a SWR
below 2:1 for a bandwidth less than 200 kHz. Minus
side wires are not coated with UV resistant insulation
and should be replaced.
HF5B is sold in Germany to WiMo
and his dealers for about 505€. Its price is 464€
at WSPLC. This is
the first US antenna cheaper in Europe ! |
|
Cushcraft
R8 |
$500 |
The Cushcraft
R8 is one among the very few 8-banders covering from 40 to 6m,
WARC included, reason for which I selected it among
the many performing verticals. It
is 8.7m high, cut at 1/4l
and its weight is 10.5 kg. According to DM2BLE it offers a
gain of -0.43 dBd (1.71 dBi) on 20m with two opposites and directional
radiation lobes. Among all Cushcraft R series of
antennas, R8 displays the best gain. R8 uses two kinds or radials and counterpoises which
once installed are not always easy to dismantle. It performs
very well placed 10m high and is able to work any pile-up
barefoot in CW. It supports an emitting power up to 1.5
kW PEP in SSB.
Minus side,
once placed on a mast or a pylon, due to its weight it is
not easy to get it down without help. Thus to reserve
for a semi-permanent installation, and to secure with
guy wires.
Its
best competitors are High-gain AV-640
and GAP TITAN
DX that show similar performances. Butternut,
Diamond
or Hustler
come a few dB behind. Titanex is
unfortunately out of our scope, its verticals being
dedicated to low bands (160, 80 and 40m), for
permanent or portable installations. Sold
by many dealers, its price is 725€ at WSPLC. |
|
TGM
MQ-36SR |
$550 |
TGM
is a canadian company specialized in compact hybrid
quad antennas. Among the various models offered, there
is the MQ-36SR, a 6-bander operating in bands from 20
to 6m, WARC included, supporting 1.2 kW PEP in SSB.
Materials
used are 6061/T6 aluminium, stainless steel, Lexan
and G12 fiber-glass coils, what explains its weight
quite important of about 13 kg. Drawback, due to its
weight this model requests at least a medium rotator
and a robust mast.
This
hybrid MQ-36SR quad is made of 3 elements 3.6m long
each; the boom is 4.3m long with the reflector, this
latter measuring 1.21m high.
Its
gain is substantial, ranging from 6 dBd on 20m to 7 dBd on upper
bands, with a F/B ratio from 15 to 20 dB and a F/S ratio
of 25 dB. The bandwidth is quite narrow, with a mean
SWR of 1.2:1 that exceeds easily 2.0:1 at the end of
the band.
Excepting
its high price, this antenna is one of my favorites, both by its performances and sizing.
Like all beams, to preserve its performance install it
at least 10m over the ground.
Price
is in US$. There are several dealers outside Canada. A
direct order from TGM to Europe (ON) will cost you 841€,
plus taxes (customs) while ordering from WSPLC
the price is only 815€. |
|
Titanex
LP5 |
666€ |
Thanks
to new technologies, Titanex in Germany is specialized
in ultra light but resistant antennas made of
titanium, verticals, beams, quads, log periodics, and
rotary dipoles without to forget some tilting towers.
LP5
is 5 bander log periodic covering 20-10m which weight is less than 9 kg.
Note that the DLP-11L model (11 elements, lighter
model, 890 € covers bands from 40 to 10m.
LP5
is a 5 elements displaying a wingspan rather huge of 10.3m and a
boom diameter of 40 mm ! The windload is about 50 kg under windspeed reaching 120 km/h.
Able
to support a power of 5 kW PEP, according to DM2BLE this log periodic offers
a gain from 2 to 3.1 dBd, and a F/B ratio of 15-20 dB.
Good news, its price is very competitive. |
|
Mosley
beam TA-33-JRN WARC |
$540 |
After
the Mosley MINI-33 (tribander), the most interesting five-bander Mosley beam is the
TA-33-JRN-WARC model. This is 4-element beam completed
with a dipole to cover from 20 to 10m including
WARC bands. It supports 1.2 kW
PEP in SSB. The
weight of this beam is in the average, 13 kg, with a boom 3.7m long,
the largest element measuring 8.3m, with a mast
diameter of 38 mm. Due to its weight and to support
the windload this beam requests a medium to heavy rotator.
It can be supported by a robust mast or better, a small pylon.
So minus side, this beam is more suited to a semi-permanent
installation or a small DXpedition than an portable
operation. According
to DM2BLE, this beam offers an excellent gain, from 4.5 dBd
on 20m to 6 dBd on 10m with a F/B ratio of 20 dB. On WARC bands
this beam acts like a dipole with this advantage to be directive.
Minus side,
this mid-range beam is quite wide and expensive compared to
its competitors, and the waiting delay can reach 4 months ! Plus
side, Mosley has a huge stock of spare parts and has dealers in most countries among them WiMo
in Germany where it is sold 750€. Download
the TA-33 Jr assembly manual. |
|
Cubex
Starmaster / MK II PT3 |
$374 |
Cubex
sell quad antennas since 1960, token of serious. Among
their different models, name the
"Starmaster" kits that allow amateurs to
reduce the price of their antenna.
So,
a 2-element 5 bander (20 to 10m) cost $374 vs. $575
for the same model pre-cut but not assembled (Mark II
PT5 model).
In
the field, DM2BLE
measured a gain of about 5 dBd on all bands with a F/B ratio
between 20-25 dB and a beam width of 60°. Some users
experienced difficulties to get a low SWR on WARC
bands.
Spreaders
are made of fiberglass while the boom 2.4m long for
2" dia. is made of aluminium. Its overall weight
is 14.5 kg (32 lbs.) for a turning radius of 3m.
Delivered
in kit, Starmaster series is Cubex
"do-it-yourself" solution suited to Field
Days or portable operations, preferably in group (even well-built,
you will have difficulties to erect it alone). In this
kit version, telescopic fiberglass arms must be pierced
and wires cut at the required dimensions. All these specs are
well explained in the manual (available in English or French).
In
Europe, its price is 510€ to RADIO33 in France. |
|
Degen
BBQ 101520 |
$720 |
Degen
is a canadian company that sells innovative antenna solutions like compact quads
and stacked Vwaves (beams which elements are in
V-shape). The
Baby Boomer Quad, BBQ for short, is a multi-band
2-element shortened quad displaying a wingspan of about
3.4m per side. It is made of aluminium, fiberglass, 14
gauge tinned Flexweave wire, heavy duty eyelets and stainless
steel electrical connexions. Wires are pre-tuned and
pre-strung. Its weight is quite high, 17 kg, what requires
a medium rotator, but hopefully it can be erected by
one person once you are used to assemble/disassemble it.
Degen's installation
manuals will give you a better understanding of the
assembly of their antennas.
BBQ
is designed from factory to operate on 20, 15 and 10m
only. Its gain is 4.1 dBd on 20m, 4 dBd on 15m and 3.6 dBd on
10m (and up to 8.9 dBd erected 15m high), with a F/B
ratio of respectively 12, 26 and 18 dB. On 12 and 17m it
offers also some gain with an excellent F/B ratio. Connected
to an external antenna tuner (only) it is able to
cover all bands from 160 to 6m, where it acts like a
dipole, with the advantage to be directive. Its
maximum power is 1.5 kW PEP in SSB. Drawback of it
shortened design, at the end of each band the SWR is
between 2.8:1 and 3.2:1.
BBQ
is less performing than a full size quad and is on par
with wire beams. However, like all quads, you
can install it quite low over the ground and still
have a good takeoff angle, what you cannot get with a
beam.
The DX
Option allows the antenna to be shipped in a shorter
and bulkier package (better for airline transport),
other than that it is the same antenna (add
$130).
In
Europe, its price is 1234€ to WiMo
in Germany (spiderbeam section of their website). |
|
Support
and servicing
At
last do not forget that any (trans)portable antenna will not support
long time the stress of being regularly disassembled and reassembled...
Most screws, U-bolts, clamps, guy colars, clips or small parts that you often handle
have chance to loose their profile or to break if they are made of
light material, and you will have maybe to return them for
servicing or to replace them after a while. So select well your
material not only for its performances but also for the quality of
its smallest parts that, like a sand grain in your gearing can
grip all your system if they fail...
If an handyman can easily
find spare parts in any Do-it-yourself shop or make them from
scrach using pieces of galvanized aluminium, screw and bolts, I suggest
to the casual amateur to buy some spare parts from the manufacturer
when you order your antenna (hopefully most provide them). You should
also coat all unprotected accessories made of steel or aluminium
not galvanized before assembly (I think to U-bolts, turn-buckles,
etc) and to place grease on all screw pitches as well as at the
ends of segments that might be disassembled to avoid some bad
surprises the day you will try to dismantle them (mainly in
tropical and wet countries). Replace at the
same time all ordinary wires (including your guy-wires) with
cables protected with a PVC jacket and UV resistant. These are not
high expenses (maybe 100 €) and they will prevent your material
to get rusty after a few years.
Generally
speaking, the servicing and support offered by the company you have
selected is very important, all the more that you ignore usually
its quality at purchase, excepted in reading some reviews. So
think twice about it before ordering material abroad or to a
dealer that nobody knows yet.
Last
chapter
Portable
accessories
(whip antenna, amplifier, battery,
generator)
|
