Anyone here use an Ultimax100 end fed antenna?

[Bob]

I purchased an Ultimax100 end fed antenna, and am curious if anyone here has
used one before and if you have any advice on the best orientation for it,
horizontal, vertical, or slope? I checked eHam.net for reviews and they were
favorable, 4+'s and 5's.

Thanks,
Bob KB2ZGN

[tom]

Looking at the description it requires an antenna tuner, which means you
are going to tune until matched anyway. That would mean that you can
mount it any way you'd like and then match it.

Your results will depend on the local environment. Whether it's a
sloper, or another configuration it will be catch as catch can since you
can (will? you didn't say) be using it on multiple bands.

If you plan to use it on multiple bands, higher and farther away from
other conductive things is better.

Sorry to give a non-answer but you didn't say if you were using it on
one band or many, or if you planned to trim it to resonance on a single
band.

And eHam reviews (as well as the rest) are worth what you pay for them.

tom
K0TAR

[Bob]

Thanks tom, and I apologize for not providing more details, I guess I just
didn't think before hand.

I will be using it with several radios, an IC-703+, (built in auto-tuner)
IC-706MKII and IC-7000, (LDG add-on auto-tuner for these last 2). The antenna
comes with a matching network in a sealed enclosure, and is very well built
using quality hardware. I also have an RF isolator to prevent common mode
current in the coax shield. The antenna is supposed to be capable of 3 to 54 MHz
with an antenna tuner, (I'm hoping to use as many bands as possible) and will
handle the legal limit of 1500 watts. Maybe I'll be better off with my AH-4 and
a random length wire antenna, but space is limited. That's why I'm trying this
one.

Thanks again tom, and 73,
Bob KB2ZGN

[W5DXP]

On Friday, February 22, 2013 7:02:39 PM UTC-6, Bob wrote:
> ... any advice on the best orientation for it,

Everything before the wire part is a power transfer system with certain known/measurable disadvantages such as efficiency. The wire part is the radiator and obeys the same laws of physics as any other wire so the rules that apply to other wire antennas also apply to that wire antenna, e.g. at least 1/4WL in height for horizontal mounting, no more than 5/8WL long if mounted vertically, etc.
--
73, Cecil, w5dxp.com

[wxviewer]

I personally know 3 hams that use the same end fed as you and have been having incredible results. In addition they are using the FT-950 and LDG AT-100 tuner and have been racking up the contact. Me on the other hand am using the ZS6BKW dipole and have found good success as well.

Bob-WX2I

[Bob]

Hi Bob, sorry for the delay in responding, I didn't see your reply until just
now.

[Bob]

On Mon, 11 Mar 2013 16:09:16 -0700 (PDT), wxviewer <wxvi...@comcast.net> wrote:

I don't know what happened, must have hit the wrong key. All of a sudden the
message I was typing disappeared!

Anyway, it's nice to know others are having good results with it. You made me
curious about the ZS6BKW so I looked it up. I'm afraid it's too long for my
situation unfortunately, but it sounds like a nice G5RV variant. I don't recall
if I mentioned, but I'm using it with an IC-7000 and an LDG IT-100 AT. It amazes
me that it tunes from 160 through 6 meters with low SWR ratios. I'm very pleased
with it so far, but I do want to see if I can find a second, (or more) alternate
antenna(s) to try out against it. One of the joys of renting is having to assure
my Luddite landlord that even just the one antenna isn't going to cause death
and destruction! ;-) Unfortunately the property isn't much larger than the area
the house sits in, so space is at a premium.

Thanks again Bob & 73,
Bob KB2ZGN