QRP HF, Portable Full Band Tuned InterferenceFast Set Up forReception

Received in perfect new condition. It will be awhile before I can put it through some testing. However looks really nicely made. All metal nice knobs. Comes with a small PVC tube with end caps to store the antenna. Looks like it’s a very small version of a L-Tuner of sort. I wouldn’t run serious power through it. About 5 or 10 watts on AM,FM and CW. For SSB 15 watts or so. Bought this mostly for just monitor some HF and short wave signals. This will also be on my Xiegu X-6200 QRP radio. I also realize the 6200 has a built in tuner. And it will probably not like this tuner antenna. So I will not use the the built in tuner with it on. Also going to test it out on my new Radtel RT 880g. Because it also has HF reception. This HT is capable of transmitting on 11 meters so I’ll check out 10 meters with this tuner antenna. It’s fun experimenting with this hobby. Once again nice little QRP antenna and tuner. All the best! 73

I did not like the rather stupid technical explanation of the controls by the vendor. I did not disassemble however removed end caps. It is a well built unit shielded and it looks like the inductor rotator may be further shielded inside with ferrite . Its an LC matcher. The capacitor measured 66-607 pf at 1-7 on dial. The inductor appears to be about 40uh at the 300 and then decreases down to 3.8 on dial. Cap is in parallel and inductor in series typical LC match. Hopes this helps. SWR meter showed low SWR as advertised. I expect normal behavior of the match. The random wire I have no tested.

At first i was not sure if this antenna was performing at all. I used it in some QRP activations and it seemed to be...just ok. Once I compared it to a mini whip and a EFHW, I realized that it was actually a very good antenna. With a single counterpoise or true ground its even better. As an RX-only antenna it surpassed expectations and was found to have an even greater range than documented. And since no power injectors are needed...this really is a keeper. Its been in everyday use since and has been more or less flawless. My only complaint...and this has nothing to do with the antenna...is that its not quite light enough to mount directly to an SDR dongle. Apart from that...its perfect.

When used with the Xiegu x6100 this is only a marginal antenna, even after adding a counterpoise wire reception was meager and the internal tuner on the radio didn't care for it. Running an SWR Scan - with the selector optimized for receive, the best it shows is 3:1. The bulky PL259 connectors are cumbersome and by the time an appropriate adapter is added so it will interface with the radio make it a bulky kludge. Not recommended.

The images are an analysis of this antenna vs my G5RV. As it shows, on one setting, it has a low, long range with usable SWR. This was 3.5-30MHz. The G5RV shows expected resonance at multiple bands, so I'm not sure how this unit is showing such a low SWR for such a long range of frequencies. This changes to sharp dips when the upper switch is used, showing more expected narrow ranges, which can be tuned in. No switch however shows any usable frequency above about 18MHz.

I was unable to get this antenna to tune well enough to use it. It fell apart while trying to use it.

The antenna is an LC tuned circuit with a whip antenna attached to it. It works OK, especially when a radial is connected to it. The bottom knob is used to adjust the inductor, to tune in the SWR for the band you’re working; and the top knob is used to fine tune the SWR by adjusting the variable capacitor. This antenna will help you get on the air quickly, but like other small verticals, there are limitations.

Very finicky, but it does do what is described. If you want high quality results seek elsewhere. If you want a quick solution this will stand in until you find one.

Does not tune below 14 MHz unless extra wire is added.