William E. Verge wrote:

Hi All,
I would like to know if any of you have used one of the Isotron
Antennas for 160 m?

What have been your experiences both pro and con? Or if you know of
someone that has used one what has been their experience?

I have one of the older versions, about 30 inches tall, currently in
storage while I transition from renting to owning again but I've used it
with some success.

The manufacturer recommends putting it on a tall (40-50 feet?) mast, all
I had was about 25 feet. After tuning it to resonate at about 1900 kHz
I used a noise bridge and found a radiation resistance of around 25 ohms
non reactive. I wound a 2:1 transformer that went at the coax connector
on one of the capacitor plates. After that I had an SWR of 1.7:1 or
less over about 1850-1930 kHz, a tuner handled the rest of the band. I
found that leaving off the wire that grounds it to the mast was necessary.

How do I define 'some success'? Working JA's and KH6's from Colorado
with 100 watts a couple hours before sunrise and being able to work most
stations within a couple hundred miles a few hours after sunset.

You have to tune it, you can't just put it together and expect it to
work. My tuner wouldn't handle the 25 ohm load at 160m without the
xfmr, maybe yours will.

From the negativity these inspire you could probably pick one up used
on eBay pretty cheap, with a little work it could be worth it.

73!
Galen, W8LNA