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Stealth antenna? Explain this one.
- Thread starter pro151
- Start date
Explain it? Just like any other Isotron antenna, small size and poor performance as compared to a real dipole. To further explain things I would have to talk about inflated performance claims and such but I won't. 
They say it performs like a dipole but they don't say the dipole is only a foot long. :laugh:
They say it performs like a dipole but they don't say the dipole is only a foot long. :laugh:
RatsoW8
Supporting Member, W9WDX ARC Member - WD8T
Even the ham radio world has it's snake oil antennas. It's performance is probably just a little better than a dummy load mounted on the same pole.
Dipole perfromance? Probably true if they mean loading up a 10 meter dipole on 160 meters. Oh yea....if you have room to mount that thing on a mast you have room for a dipole. :thumbdown:
Dipole perfromance? Probably true if they mean loading up a 10 meter dipole on 160 meters. Oh yea....if you have room to mount that thing on a mast you have room for a dipole. :thumbdown:
The Isotron people should know better and know that they aren't fooling hams and that the hams will get them back....by not buying their products.
The funny thing is that out of 67 reviews, the Isotron antennas get a 3.9 out of 5!
One guy claimed that he took his down and put a 50 Ohm Dummy load up in it`s place and ........
Posted By
K1CJS:
Now in the same thread there is ....
73
Jeff
One guy claimed that he took his down and put a 50 Ohm Dummy load up in it`s place and ........
Posted By
K1CJS:
Now in the same thread there is ....
73
Jeff
That last comment would be funny if it weren't so tragic.
Lends credibility to the guys that QRP with a light bulb or a garbage can antenna using a Palstar antenna tuner.
Lends credibility to the guys that QRP with a light bulb or a garbage can antenna using a Palstar antenna tuner.
I will say that the Isotrons will tune up and that means an efficient transfer of signal from the antenna to the radio but the signal pickup of the antenna itself leaves something to desire.Any small antenna will not have the signal pick up that a full sized antenna will have.
Amen, my home made dummy load tunes up real nice to.
I guess they have there place, but i think I would try the dipole first.
if the band is good you would be surprised how well the worst antenna will work.
Doesn't mean it is a good antenna....
73
Jeff
AMEN! I can't even remember the number of times I have heard someone put up a crappy antenna and then think it is great because they just talked to someone a few states away with just a two pill amp. :laugh: I talked to Florida from Nova Scotia on an indoor dipole in my basement one time with just 25 watts. It was still a crappy antenna and something I was just messing around with in my early radio days.
You can tune a coat hanger and with the right conditions talk half way across the U.S. The rest of the time it will be a coat hanger and you will be lucky to be heard across the block.
Ummm.....
Snake Oil
Couldnt ya hook up a coax to an aluminum trash can and put it 20 or so feet in the air and get just as much. And yet look more sophisticated?
Snake Oil
Couldnt ya hook up a coax to an aluminum trash can and put it 20 or so feet in the air and get just as much. And yet look more sophisticated?
"Been there, done that!"
It's been something like 30 years ago, but I had to try one, you know? Got a ten meter 'Isotron' to put up at work. (10 and 11 meter, sort of.) That was one of the sorriest things I've ever had. I finally got it to tune, but it was a huge PITA! Talk about 'up/down/up/down/etc! I can honestly say that the comparison to a dummy load is a valid one. Except if a dummy load was that much trouble to use, I'd throw it away.
Take a look at what the things are. It's a tuned circuit, a coil and capacitor. One tuned it will accept power like any tuned circuit will, and it'll even radiate, sort of. But... and it's a big 'but', it don't work worth a hoot, and is not worth the money unless you absolutely can't figure any other way of going about it.
[The only tuning there is to the 10 meter version is by adjusting the capacitor thingy, and it is unbelievably 'touchy'. If a bird ever lands on it and leaves a 'deposit', the thing is no longer 'tuned'.]
'Isotron' has been around for what, 50 years at least. If the owner ever made a living from them, he had to really enjoy newspaper soup and grass salads. It's not a scam, they do work. But they work very badly.
- 'Doc
It's been something like 30 years ago, but I had to try one, you know? Got a ten meter 'Isotron' to put up at work. (10 and 11 meter, sort of.) That was one of the sorriest things I've ever had. I finally got it to tune, but it was a huge PITA! Talk about 'up/down/up/down/etc! I can honestly say that the comparison to a dummy load is a valid one. Except if a dummy load was that much trouble to use, I'd throw it away.
Take a look at what the things are. It's a tuned circuit, a coil and capacitor. One tuned it will accept power like any tuned circuit will, and it'll even radiate, sort of. But... and it's a big 'but', it don't work worth a hoot, and is not worth the money unless you absolutely can't figure any other way of going about it.
[The only tuning there is to the 10 meter version is by adjusting the capacitor thingy, and it is unbelievably 'touchy'. If a bird ever lands on it and leaves a 'deposit', the thing is no longer 'tuned'.]
'Isotron' has been around for what, 50 years at least. If the owner ever made a living from them, he had to really enjoy newspaper soup and grass salads. It's not a scam, they do work. But they work very badly.
- 'Doc
OH YEAH ! can you remember the "PET ROCK" or K-tell ? A shit load of dumb ideas that sold millilions ? Well on his other e-bay items he has other "stelth antennas" all with 2:1 swr & over rated claims , my first thought was how they would take our winters & high winds ? Then after a secound look i think the first fat bird landing will do it in ?? However i know a lot of people that would use such a item just to talk down the street or because someone else bought it ? Nothing to do with being practical . Bob.A.
How about a Comet CHA 250BX?? I had a radio buddy 75 miles away and I couldn't hear him at all on SSB, any ideas?? I can talk 150 to 200 miles ground wave most of the time so is that antenna a junker or was it just a problem with line of sight??