ZeroFive 10-40 Groundplane Antenna

Just looking for feedback/experiences with this particular antenna. Would appreciate any reviews as well.

Here's a link: http://www.zerofive-antennas.com/co...and-vertical-antenna-special-sale-free-shippi


Thanks!

 

It's silly.

Very well built as all their antennas are, but there's no electrical magic.

"100 feet minimum feedline length recommended" is a wonderful demonstration of someone who doesn't really understand how antennas work.

If you want a very strong, robust antenna that will survive high winds, they make these.

But for performance....a single radiator length without parallel elements or traps to set resonance for the bands in use is always a huge compromise, and that's what this is.

 

Aren't multiband verticals by nature a compromise though? A lot of people who buy these antennas swear by them, so they must be doing something right...

 

No, they don't have to be.

A multiband vertical with traps can be about 90% efficient.

 

Note the effective length is 26+8 = 34' so it would be a good 10m-30m antenna to use with a base-mounted auto-tuner. 40m performance probably sucks with an SWR in excess of 100:1. Without some sort of matching network at the base, coax losses will be very high on 20m-12m. On 10m, the 53 degree TOA wastes power.

Here's an interesting (confusing) statement:

"SWR---Under 1.5 to 1 with customer supplied wide range tuner at the operating posistion"

That's NOT the SWR on the coax between the tuner and the antenna! For $460, hams deserve better. For less than $100, hams can roll their own. Misspelled words in the ZeroFive ad do not invoke a lot of confidence.