HF Multiband Vertical Antenna - FALCON OUT-250B
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- Опубликовано: 20 сен 2021
- The FALCON OUT-250B is a Short Wave Multiband Vertical antenna (WARC incl.) with flat SWR across the bands. In this video I assemble, install, test, compare and modify of this 7,13m tall vertical antenna. I hope you enjoy this video :) Best 73
Link where I bought this antenna from: www.locuradigital.com/en/hf_a...
Antenna Features:
- Bands. 6, 10, 12, 15, 17, 20, 30, 40, 75/80 m
- TX: 3.5 - 57 MHz
- RX: 2 - 90 MHz
- Impedance:. 50 Ohm
- Maximum power: 250 W SSB / FM 125 W
- Connector: SO239 (PL)
- VSWR: Less than 1.5: 1
- Height: 7.13 m
- Weight: 3 kg
- Wind Speed: 30 m/s
- Mast. Diameter: max. 42 mm
#FalconOut250b #MultibandVerticalAntenna #ShortwaveAntenna 
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Very nice test! Congratulations!
For my point of view, that is an excellent change of QTH! 🤩
I had a similar antenna made by MFJ...in fact, it looked pretty much identical. I had it mounted on a steel post pounded into the ground about 1 meter and the base of the antenna was about 1 meter above ground adjacent to salt water. I found it to be an excellent antenna for general shortwave receiving but poor for transmitting, especially below 10 MHz. On 20 meters and up it was ok but not exceptional. On 40 and 80 meters it was barely better than a dummy load on transmit. My location was very windy (I was working as a lighthouse keeper at the time) and, after a couple of seasons, the base snapped in two from metal fatigue. The manufacturer recommended mounting on a steel mast about 10 meters high or more in which case it might have worked better on the lower frequencies. It did not work well for me, though, other than for shortwave listening. A random wire probably would have worked just as well, though, for a lot less money...Ivan, VE7IVN
What a beautiful QTH, thanks for video
Thank you! 😉
Thank you so much for the video. At 38:42 I see the ground wire connected to the mounting plate but I do not see how the mounting plate is connected to the mast securely. Is it connected? Thanks. I just ordered one of these antennas and plan on trying it with an Icom AH-4 remote antenna tuner. 73 de Jon K7CO
I have the MFJ automatic antenna tuner connected to a 23' aluminum flag pole. My base does NOT Touch the flag pole but the base and the flag pole are about 1' apart and are connected by a solid piece of round plastic. I have the antenna grounded with an 8' grounding rod a few inched from the tuner. (the antenna and tuner are both grounded). Currently have flat pieces of 2x4' aluminum sheets around the base and run radials off the sheets. (right now I have 8 radials of various random lengths). Antenna works amazingly well. The antenna is in the back yard of my house and overlooks the fairway of a golf course. Tunes up nicely on 6m to 80. Right now mostly using WSJT-X. Have made 100's of contacts on various bands (20 being the most). Loads of fun!!! Will do some sideband next. de KQ1K
thanks for the honest review.
Cool video as always. I would be interested in how the two antennas differ when transmitting. Thank you again for your great video. 73 Tom
This was the first antenna I had for shortwave...It worked fine until it seems to do not so wel anymore and my swr went to give strange readings. The problem was the so called water tight balun. After I managed to open it ( And you can do this only wreck the housing of the balun) there was comming water out of it and everything was rotten inside and even the wire from the balun to the conector had come loose...... And this was only after 1 year on the roof! Wat good was about this antenna was the quality of the aluminium and the connection between the antenna rods.
See the first part of the video reminded me of the time I bought a Zero Five antenna, getting unpacked and unwrapped was the hardest part.
I use a comparable antenna, due to my limited space in the city.
It's the Diamond BB7V rated from 2 to 30 MHz, a 7m vertical.
I find it's best working when it's ground mounted.
I can't Set up a fixed installation so I put it on small tripod for a temporary installation.
With 20m RG58 on 20, 17 and 15 it's a perfect match without the tuner, on 40 the SWR is about 2-2,5 but tunable to 1,1 anywhere on the band with the internal tuner of the 991a.
10m is so broad it also needs the tuner.
80 works with the tuner, but the efficiency is so low it's no fun.
A lot of hams call this antenna a Dummy load too, but i worked the US on 20 and 15 from DL, although I'm right in the city of Munich.
On 40 I was able to work stations all over europe.
The radiator of the BB7V consists of interlocking telescoping sections and can be set up in minutes and it ist self supporting. Collapsed it's only 1,3m.
For me personally this antenna is an absolute blessing. It enables me to get on all bands within a tiny footprint.
I would say any antenna in an urban environment is a compromise, you have to trade space and convenience for efficiency and are limited to what you're allowed to set up.
As far as the Falcon is concerned I would bei disappointed, too.
A fixed 7m vertical should perform better than this. And there are other models, maybe not that slim, but also not really higher which perform much better.
If it's still relevant for you, you should consider a HyGain AV-620 (also 7m long 20-6m incl. WARC) as fixed alternative, or the BB7V for temporary use.
If an antenna has a reasonable SWR from 0 to 30 MHz you can be sure it's going to be compromised, it will not be as good as a (for example) EFHW or a DX Commander, your magloop or any other other antenna dedicated for one or several bands. But of course, if your space is limited these kind of antenna's can be what you need to get on the air. Thanks for the video Paul! 73
You only needed to look at the values of Z and R on the HF sweep to see how bad it is. Those prove that its possible to have a low SWR but have quite bad values.
@@conorturton Especially when you are making measurements at the end of a LONG piece of coaxial cable.
@@W1ZYi always plug it either straight to the antenna or small LMR400 patch lead.
@@brentdonnelly1402 Absolutely. I think the Rig Blasters have the ability to compensate for long coaxial runs to the feedpoints. So my comments might have exposed my age.
Maravilha de vídeo ! Eu fico impressionado em saber que a loop magnético tem praticamente o mesmo desempenho que uma antena vertical de mais de 7 metros. Eu gostaria de ver uma comparação entre essa antena vertical multibanda e uma antena tri-banda. Forte 73.
You ere AWESOME 🇵🇱 🇵🇱 🇵🇱 Jony Bravo 1980 pozdrawia 73 🇵🇱
It looks like the Diamond BB7V antenna, the SWR curves seem identical (as I measure on my Diamond). In vertical polarization, it is not very efficient in SSB but it helps out in the field.
I bypassed the transformer on the bottom and connected the autotuner directly to the radiator. Now works perfect
Hello, thanks for the video. Some radio amateurs have tried with good results to install this type of antennas with fiber poles and therefore not metal. Greetings W0EUZ
good morning.How is contact with the ground plane achieved? Can radials be useful? What is the ideal height from the ground? Thanks and 73 from IU0PNM
The antenna can be tuned using those segment lengths on the first side of accompanying "manual" as a guide (you only assembled in roughly by using the measure "both screws are holding inner segment" if I catched it right). But apart of that, resistive load as a "transformer" is quite a bad idea.
Yes exactly, no matter how well you tune this vertical, dummyload on bottom makes this antenna unusable in case you don't have any outer additional tuner and baypassing transformer. :)
Since this is a clone of the Comet CHA-250B it would be interesting to see a side-by-side comparison. The Comet is almost twice as expensive.
Hi where did you purchase the mag loop
Grettings my friend, definitely the magloop it`s better than the vertical, 73 of YV2ESB
Interesting antenna. Will you be testng it out on a youtube livestream this weekend, if so what time in UTC? Very close between these two but I would say the magloop has a bit of a lower noise advantage.
My livestreams depends on the free time on sunday afternoon, but yes if I will do livestream most probably I will work with this vertical by-passed by the MFJ-993 remote autotuner. Best 73
Thats a beautiful place 73
I bought a different version of this. The bottom mounting holes on mine were badly positioned in that when the u bolt was in position , it was too long and it lined up with the bottom of the transformer. I had to shorten the bottom u bolt or, another alternative was to drill two holes in the mounting plate below the transformer that would allow the u bolt full room. I also put heat shrink over the joints for extra strength.
Paul
You might try some radials on 20 just to see if that will help.
73
wd4dda
Another way to get better performance is bypass the transformer, add a 49-1 and attach a wire on the top when added to this length would be about 130 feet making it an end fed 1/2 wave covering 80 to 10 meters. You will be amazed at the improvement. The basic antenna pole is very well made so it can be used well!!
I do have have this antenna and 40 & 80 meters for transmitting is really very poor, so I see your comment and I wondering if it will improve at least on this two bands. Can you send me an e-mail with the details of that change you mention? 73's
Your new QTH garden would also be highly suitable for a DX Commander vertical fan dipole... ;-)
Thanks, but actually it's not my garden :D it's just my wife's parents house which is our temporary QTH. I tryed the 22m long inverted V and 49:1 UnUn, also EFHW antenna inv.V, or the Random wire Antenna with MFJ tuner and was not happy with results on the air even if the SWR was fine. ;) Best 73
108 km/h windspeed. Impressive.
Also I've heard that this antennas work better with additional counterpoisse, diamond antennas have info about that in manual.
Hard to say, In my case I use the fence as a big couterpoise ;) but I can try to attach a wires too.
@@OM0ET constructing a bigger loop for garden is also not bad idea, i saw interesting project with external tunning based on arduino.
Welcome to the club! I have the same antenna. I was not able to make even one qso. It's a good microwave oven, instead. Sorry!
Lol yes, at least I have the MFJ tuner and can bypassing the transformer with it :) Good luck! 73
Is the flat swr right across all bands a good indication that the antenna is a good radiator?? Or is it just a dummy load?
:) look here 35:52
This antenna is similar to COMET CHA250?
looks nice the antenna. hmm... just asking... what the inside of black tube. is it the loading coil ? or what ? any diagram of the antenna ?
There is a loosy transformer inside this box. You can find somewhere on Google how it looks like with diagram.
Ground mount it and put some radials on. And see how it preforms. I find verticals do very well when ground mounted.
these are not designed to work like that, they should be mounted at a minimum hight of 35' all those antennas are copy of the Comet CHA250b.
How do you know how far, to slide the verticals in?
Good to see the 2nd VFO is 27.555
Most HF DX is on the flatside (horizontal polarity) The mag loop has horizontal polarity vs the vertical (vertical polarity) so there is a signal difference between the two. I wonder if the ERP (effective radiated power) between the two is different.
Nice video, and maybe a good antenna. The best from LB1NH.
I think this antenna needs a modification, due to lossy transformer on the bottom. But mechanically it's perfectly made antenna I must say! best 73
Good video. Too bad the vertical disappointed you a bit. But, you definitely proved the value of the magloop. I began my search for an HF Vertical but now I think I might go with a magloop.
Thanks! No, maybe just the conditions and enviroment around were not ideal for vertical type of antenna. Keep in mind that the Magloop needs re-tune when QSY, vertical don't. 🙂
You need to make tests at the feedpoint of the antenna. Short coax cable.
Hi Paul it seems your mag-loop is the winner , I made a good choice. ;-)
Yeah, it's definitely 1S better than this vertical. :) But on the other side, I have to note that the transformer used in the vertical is very lossy and unusable. Therefore I use the MFJ autotuner to normally use this vertical :) I hope you are happy with the Magloop ;) 73, Paul
@@OM0ET I'm very happy with the mag-loop Paul amazing what you can work with QRP. 73 Dirk
I am so much happy for your satisfaction Dirk 😊 Thank you! I hope to work you one day! 😉👍
Zdravím z Čech, kde se dá tato souprava antény objednat, pokud je to možné? Děkuji za informaci. Jinak perfektní videa, děkuji za ně.
Greetings from the Czech Republic, where can this antenna set be ordered, if possible? Thanks for the information. Otherwise perfect videos, thank you for them.
Ahoj Jiŕi. Ďakujem za pochvalu a tiež sledovanie mojich videí! 😊👍 Link na webshop je v popise videa. 73, Paľo
Black Box? Would be nice to no what your dealing with? Sorry to say that it looks like a great dummy load. If it truly does utilize a 49:1 or 9:1 UnUn may work better with a counterpoise. Did you try it ground mounted? Thanks for posting this vid. Hard way to learn that it doesn't meet your expectations.
35:54 i said the same :D
The Mag Loop is slightly better,
However the convenience of not having to tune the Vertical is a bonus
Good point.
Very nice explanation. I thought you had to preset the lengths of each section as shown in the diagram. I must of missed it. Fernando N2FQ/6
very good antenna
Looks like a GPA27.5 from the old CB age.
And with an almost flat line swr over such a huge bandwidth, first thing I thought was, yeah, that looks like an expensive dummyload.
You cant compare that with a dedicated antenna. Those will always perform better.
Need to make those sweep measurements at the feedpoint through a short coaxial jumper, rather than at the end of a long piece of coax.
Nice job. Great thanks fromage F5SBM
I cannot find a follow up video after you used the MFJ. Autotuner and by-passed
the un/un transformer on the Falcon antenna. (Your modification.)
The antenna looks superbly constructed but as you were assembling it, I had this nagging feeling of doubt in my mind about that un-un transformer. Your findings did not surprise me.
If the MFJ auto-tuner, by-passing the Falcon transformer improves things, it would also be very interesting to see if a quality Un/Un (9:1?) wired like the MFJ makes a similar improvement.
Bear in mind that the mag loop is a very high angle take off and can be V. low noise and the vertical is the opposite on both counts,
73 de G3NBY.
PS. How did the MFJ perform?
Thanks for comment 😉👍 Follow up the link on the very end of this video and you will see the the livestream video demonstration of this vertical with bypassed transformer by the MFJ autotuner. It wotks great. Today i worked a New Zealand with it on 40m band (report 5/6) with just 100W and 50m long coaxial cable. 73
@@OM0ET
Hi.. Thank you for your swift reply. I found your video, using a IC. 7610 with the Falcon antenna, now modified by shunting (By-passing) the Falcon transformer and matching directly with the MFJ auto tuner. Clever move !!!! You obviously found it to be a better match and far better performance....I'll knock up a 7.13 m vertical and my Icom auto tuner. But it will be a bit higher than yours. Winched mast and pole etc, Have you provided any counterpoise or earth/ground return?
Many Tnx.. I enjoy your videos..
73 G3NBY
You can buy little plastic protective, water proof rubber 'boots' or socks to protect the antenna connector from corrosion.
J’ai ai fabriqué une qui fonctionne tres bien
How come the magloop antenna preforms so good? Can you use the antenna as a base antenna too?
Yes, but not this one. Isn't weaterproof and it doesn't have remote tuning.
@@OM0ET thank you.
こんにちは、わたしも 同じアンテナを使ってます。良いアンテナだとおもいます。
QSO できることたのしみにしています。73
1. Two turns of coax is not behaves as choke at all.
2. Be careful > low SWR in wide range is indicating high loses and low efficiency of antenna. (Dummy load has also low SWR…)
I am recommending the radials.
Good luck
P.
Interesting frequency on VFO B 😉
😁
MINI600 5V/1.5A HF VHF UHF Antenna Analyzer 0.1-600MHZ Frequency Counter SWR Meter 0.1-1999 with 4.3" TFT LCD Touch Screen is this your one i like to purchase it please
I really enjoyed your video! I'm considering buying one of these, and just wanted to know if you are still happy with yours.
Thank you. Not really. Mechanical construction is durable and good quality but unfortunately the transformer on the bottom is too lossy. I had to disconnect him amd connect the MFJ 993 autotuner directly to the vertical radiator. Then it worked good 😉
@@OM0ET Thanks for the info, it's much appreciated! 👍
Where each segment of your antenna meet use jetlube SS-30 to help with corrosion and decrease resistance. Still use the self vulcanizing tape...
Good luck. Wish you many QSOs
73...
Were you able to make contacts?
Yes, look at my livestreams with vertical antenna 😉👍
Got it!
Acabei de pegar um projeto na internet não fiz ainda mas estou com o material para a confecção da antena ela fax vhf uhf hf vamos vervsectem uma eficiência como uma industrial
Get a noise blanker, use the loop to receive.
polarization is the difference !!
All power die in the Falcon transformer.It payment for low SWR.Simple resistor 50 Ohms have a good SWR but we can't use it like antenna :-) I made this aerial and it has not liked me.It SWR is good but efficiency is very low.73 ,Pavel, and gd luck !
35:54 I said the same :D a dummyload. Thanks for watching and best 73! Paul
You could as well build one yourself ;-) Set up an old 27 Mhz GPA to 5,50 meter, feed it with open line. One side for the radiator, the other side for three 5,50 m radials. Use a tuner and you can work all bands.
You need a counterpoize, run three wires out from the mast about 18 inches above the ground by thirds or 120 degrees ea and ground this to your radio, see what happens then.
Thank you. Yes I plan to do that 😉👍 Best 73
The directions seemed to have section measurements that you seemed to pay no intention to during assembly.
I know I'm a little late to the party here, but based on the SWR graph you got on this thing being so flat and the fact that it doesn't work very well, I suspect that in might have a big 50 Ohm resistor in the "transformer" case
Yes, you are right. This antenna has very lossy transformer. I bypassed it and connected my remote antenna tuner 😉
I don't understand how it has so flat SWR? Looks like dummy load.
Hi Paul,
I'm wondering to see so much space in your new garden and then see you buying such a compromise antenna. The shown SWR spectrum is not possible, if there is not any resistor in the bottom case. This is a dummyload with a radiator, I think... Please take 22m of wire and a fishing pole and build an inverted v half wave endfed. This would have better results... 😉
73 from DG4BAD (Martin)
Actually it's not my garden :D it's just my wife's parents house which is our temporary QTH. I tryed the 22m long inverted V and 49:1 UnUn, also EFHW antenna inv.V, or the Random wire Antenna with MFJ tuner and was not happy with results on the air even if the SWR was fine. I am not able to lift the wire more than 5m above the ground in my conditions, which is not enough ;) Best 73
73! De Anton (UA3NDX)
Looks like a clone of the Comet CHA-250B… including the description. Are they made under licence I wonder…
That's the good question :D
Hello, for my part very disappointed with this antenna that I had perfectly installed on my roof. After very disappointing test editing ... Very difficult to make myself heard ... and very surprisingly the SWR was 1.1 on all tapes ... which is very suspect ... in short, as quickly assembled as quickly disassembled .. . it had cost me dearly ...73
Yeah, same here. I mentioned it somewhere at 35:14 i think. Transformer on the bottom of this antenna acts as expensive dummyload 😒 but I still use this antenna with very good results after bypassing transformer and adding the MFJ automatic remote tuner. 👍
The loop isn't affected being close to the ground and the vertical. They also they raditate different. So hopefully once you get the vertical up higher it will give you better preformcace. 73's
Vertical antennas need radials. There are no *non radial vertical antenna* which works successfully. All vertical antennas require a radial system. The GAP Titan DX is the only vertical which has a inbuilt radial frame and which is a very successful antenna. 73 de EI6DP
Similar to Comet antenna
exactly they are copy of the CHA250b
Yes, it seem so :)
@@OM0ET a lot cheaper than the Comet but really poor performance unfortunately... I have an original Comet CHA250b, although I thought I had fun on HF with that vertical antenna, having a wire dipole smoke the performance of that antenna... it requires a LOT of hight, manual state minimum of 35ft high and having guy wires on that antenna at high hights can be a problem. There is the Jetstream JTV680 and the Harvest Out-250B that are also based on the exact same model.
The Magnetic Loop is better.. But you can't leave it outside 24/7
It is all about your use..?? There will alway be compromises
I need quickly some antenna for my temporary QTH 😊
Completely wrong info on assembly. There are different lengths for each tube. Also the item he calls a key is what we call a wrench. But his assembly he never measured anything. When he showed you the paper showing the 6 rings had measurements for each tube. Read the instructions correctly 👌 it's roughly 23 feet tall and needs no radials and only 200 watts max. It's a copy of the comet 250b. Also almost every ham knows you can not coil your coax as he has it because it acts as a choke and will have an effect on your SWR ?
Dear friend, believe me, it really doesn't matter if you set exact length or not on this antenna, it will give you always flat 1:1 SWR across all the HAM bands, which is wrong anyway, because of poor transformer on the bottom. It's just a dummyload. On the final I had to bypass this transformer and connect my remote controlled tuner directly to the aluminium antenna pipe. This was the only way how this antenna worked for me, sadly... :D
I am not too surprised the base coil will cause losses. The low SWR over all frequencies can’t be easily explained. There must be something wrong. The first place to look for the error should be cable loss, that kind of ‚smoothes out’ the overall impedance of the system. On the other hand the antenna doesn’t seem to perform too bad. Bypassing the coil and using a tuner at the base should not do the trick, I think. You might want to tweak the antenna length a bit, but that should not enhance performance on all bands. So what would I do:1st-use the four screws on the lower plate to apply elevated radials, experiment with different lengths and angles. 2nd-Reduce transmission line loss (better or shorter cable).
This antenna is just a temporary solution and work pretty well with attached the tuner :) but at least there are many thing how to improve this antenna as you mentioned ;)
I would strongly advise injecting silicone into the drain hole you pointed to to stop water getting down to the balun - I had the Sirio/Moonraker 80 - 6 meter version of this antenna which was ruined by water ingress and needed a rebuild as a result. They work OK but need the location and the conditions to be with them. In a high density urban area like mine they are very noisy with QRN ! The Sirio Plus kit helps the band coverage and effectiveness but is difficult to tune. You can play around with other Un-Uns which is fun and can improve performance. Realistically a long fishing pole with a EFHW wire and Un-Un works just as well if not better (and is much cheaper). M7BLC . 73.
The Falcon is not so good there are 8 Ferrit Rings inside. I give you a interestet link. 73s
Thank you very much!
@@OM0ET I sent the link to your email address. RUclips is constantly deleting the link here. 8 ferrite rings are in the plastic sleeve at the bottom instead of a capacitive coil which is very unusual.
2 weeks ago I saw video about this antenna: ruclips.net/video/2JdQex115o4/видео.html
thanks! :)
30m per sec is 108km/h
Clever modification using the auto-tuner !
This is how radioamateur works : you try a crappy commercial antenna and finally, you make an antenna that really works by changing the design...
Thank you! I think this should be review about, show to people good and bad things too :) With MFJ tuner this antenna works fine :) 73, Paul
with all that land you could have a real antenna !
It's not my land. It's my wife's parents house where we live temporarily now.
Io ho provato questa antenna. È un'antenna di bassa qualità, un povero dummy load.
That is exactly what it is the big bad one: a lossy transformer acting as a 6 or more dB attenuator. The complete set is just a fake antenna.
At least I have the MFJ tuner :D :D
The best qth for ham Radio..73 Probably you cut your fingers Bro.
Yeah 😁 I did, but it vas not serious. What I don't do for a good video hihi. Thanks for watching! 😉👍
It’s a copy of the Comet CHA 250B antenna
Loop magnetic is better
Really stupid to put this together outside in a storm due to risk of lightning.
Copycat of the Comet CHA250b but overall great antenna. I have one and it works great. De K5MHC
Magloop is significantly better.
Msg loop is better
Sound like the Comet antenna with an auto-transformer at its base!!! This isn't a very good antenna... Welll let's see what happens. Even the packaging looks the same. My dummyload has a very good SWR plot as well, just saying. :-)
36:31... I think your conclusion is correct. Adding the auto-tuner and skipping the transform will at least get your signals out.
Yeah I realized that just after my first measurements and tests 😃 But thanks to the autotuner antenna this "modified" vertical works good 👍
Oh man, you should've bought a DX Commander All Band Vertical. Much better than this Dummy Load!
This vertical has no future. Far too noisy! Bst 73 and gd lk de i4oqa.
This antena IS horrible have bad rendiment insertion loss Dbs IS more rendiment GP 27 With unun 1;6 than out 250
Many of RF in this type of antena IS radiated on Hot disipation , sirio GP 27 With unun 1:6 have more rendiment
I agree, therefore I bypassed this lossy transformer and connected radiator directly to the Autotuner
Just found your channel. You have to realize this thing is basica;;y a dummy load. Do not pay for this.
I realized that :D But after bypass the transformer on the bottom and connecting the MFJ-993 Autotuner directly to the vertical, it worked nice :D hihi
Hi where did you purchase the mag loop
Hi, this Magloop is from my production www.om0et.com 😉