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Old October 26th 06, 09:00 PM posted to rec.radio.shortwave
John Plimmer John Plimmer is offline
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First recorded activity by RadioBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 87
Default PA0RDT-Mini-Whip

I have one of these and must say I am disappointed with it. Some of my mates
have it and rave about it as if it was the best thing since sliced jerky
came along.

I find the signal pickup weak and it sucks up the local noise like a vacuum
cleaner. It's not a patch on my outstanding RF Systems DX-1 Pro, but then I
guess it wouldn't be as the DX-1 costs 17 times more..........

--
John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa
South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s
RX Icom IC-756 PRO III with MW mods
Drake SW8 & ERGO software
Sony 7600D, GE SRIII, Redsun RP2100
BW XCR 30, Sangean 803A.
GE circa 50's radiogram
Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro, Datong AD-270
Kiwa MW Loop, PAORDT Roelof mini-whip
http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx

"Steve" wrote in message
ups.com...
I picked one of these up because it's received really solid reviews
from a lot of people. So far I have been using it on the tropical bands
and I have to say I'm disappointed. At my location (Brooklyn) its
performance is consistently inferior to that of my LF Engineering H-800
"Skymatch" and Wellbrook ALA-330S loop (which isn't really at its best
on the tropical bands).

I have to believe that there's something about my location or setup
that prevents the mini-whip from realizing its full potential. Although
lots of people complain about its being a noisy antenna, I don't find
it to be any more prone to noise pickup than the H-800. While I found
its performance to lag behind that of the H-800, I'd say it was
comparable to some of the other active whips I've used over the years.
For the money, it's still a good value, but I frankly cannot imagine
this antenna being competitive with a beverage antenna or large scale
loop.

And yet....plenty of credible people report that the mini-whip IS
competitive in this field.

What can I say? I just report on what I find in my tiny little corner
of the universe.

Steve