Anyone used a Sandpiper HF vertical?

[5thElement]

I just wondered if anyone has ever used a Sandpiper HF vertical antenna before?

You can find them here

http://www.sandpiper.entadsl.com/hf%20aerials.html

The "v" range and "mv" range

They seem reasonably priced but details are a little sketchy, ie none actual photos of them etc!

Eham reviews suggest they're generally quite good, but thought i'd ask here anyway!

Cheers

[JamesA]

No but id be interested in knowing more about them too!

[BigCat]

I was interested in Sandpiper antennas too. It's a shame that their website is so poor.

To find out more, I emailed them a few months ago explaining that I had a somewhat temporary L shaped dipole for 20m and 10m supported on a fiberglass fishing pole and asking about the Sandpiper range.

I got a short email back saying that I might as well stick with my DIY antenna since the Sandpiper would probably not work any better.

Honest I guess.

[5thElement]

Fair enough lol

Main reason im interested in these verticals is that they're a fair bit cheaper than other verticals that cover similar bands, but maybe you get what you pay for?

Im just starting to realise for lower bands such as 40m/80m, wire antennas just dont really fit effectively in my small garden hence the hunt for a reasonably priced vertical that performs half decent!

[dean_aberdare]

Well guys I live about 1 mile from Sandpiper and was hoping to make a visit there one day next week..I will try to get some decent info etc...

[Kickstart]

Fair enough lol

Main reason im interested in these verticals is that they're a fair bit cheaper than other verticals that cover similar bands, but maybe you get what you pay for?

Im just starting to realise for lower bands such as 40m/80m, wire antennas just dont really fit effectively in my small garden hence the hunt for a reasonably priced vertical that performs half decent!

Hi 5th,
Google G5IJ and find the radcom artical about building one. 2 of my pals have built them and had amazing results on 80 meters. 20 meters long and you can wrap it around the garden to suit. Only needs to be 5 feet up!!! Yes 5 feet .It uses the NVIS principle. I built one yesterday but not yet tried it. You do need to have a manual tuner and it is the construction of the Balun that is fiddly. My club uses one in contests and it is impressive.

cheers
Kickstart

[kc]

I used 20 meters of wire yesterday & it tuned beautifully,the first contact we made was with Spain on 40 meters, which I thought was good.
A wire end fed needs a 9:1 Balun & no counterpoise, just a separate earth for it & preferably a low pass filter as end fed wires can cause all sorts of RFI problems, but I was impressed with the performance, so much so I am seriously considering putting one up here for 80 meters & possibly, once I have seen how it performs against the CP-6, taking the vertical down.
The way I look at it is that if I buy a second low pass filter, plus a second 9:1 balun, so I have one of each in my portable operation box still, I then get a decent 80, 40, 20 meter antenna for under ?40 including wire & coax.

[JamesA]

Be very interested to see how it compares to the CP-6 KC.

Quite tempted by the sandpipers given the price of some of them, was just looking a the site and thought you must be close to them Dean! Get over there and check them out for us

Also noticed the Mr G0SLQ bought an MV6+3, wonder if he got round to putting it up and would care to comment on it!

[26CAB40]

I had a chance to examine a Sandpiper MV vertical at a rally a few years back, they definitely have the 'home built' look about them, not as swish as your avarege Cushcraft or Diamond.
However, they looked sturdy and with a bit of careful weatherproofing will no doubt stand up to the job.
All verticals go in a basket for me,
All of them work better on the higher bands.
None provide miracles.
The lower bands are always a compromise.
They all require a hefty earth or similar, no getting away with banging a pole in the ground.
people who report amazing results are generally comparing them to poor examples.

At the end of the day, the mega-stations all use beams for the higher bands, and rhombics and similar for the lower bands.
A doublet cut for the band will almost always out-perform a vertical.

If your stuck for space, and need multiband, try it, you could do worse.
Just don't expect to be fighting pile-ups with the big guns.
This goes for all multi-band verticals.

[g0rsq]

I have and use a Sandpiper V9mkIII.

I recon it is pretty good, for a multiband vertical, but then again I havent had anything else to compare it against!

My other antenna is a G5RV, which has been modded to an inverted V doublet 7 m at top following apex of roof(450 ohm feeder and 9:1 balun just after ATU).

Compared to this the Sandpiper is significantly better on 160,40, 30, 20,17, and 15. (though sometimes the doublet is better!!!)

(I use a softrock as a badscope from the IF output of TS850 to make comparisons by monitoring a 100khz wide spectrum )

It tunned down to low SWR right through, with exception of 10m!. Only need to use tunner if venturing outside tunned range on 80m and 160m.

However it is deaf on 80, 12 and 10 compared to the doublet.

This week I plan to have another go at tuning it with an antenna analyser.

It is ground mounted, shielded at bottom by a large van parked close (1m) to it on one side.

Build quality is OK (10m is just a piece of wire!!), and it has been standing for over 1 year without any attention (I bought it second hand).

Today I made a 30m 1/4 wave vertical (I have a MiniVNA so was able to tune to reasonance...not low SWR!!) (7m vertical fed against good ground) and it performed well, but no better than the Sandpiper!

The only things I dont like about it are the loading elements are all horisontal, and the main vertical element (top 50%) is only for 160m, so all radiation is from bottom 50% and horisontal resonant tunning element.

I am on lookout for GAP Titan, or Butternut to see how these compare.

For its size (5m) and price I think it is an excelent compromise antenna.

Neighbours complained about it (they complain about everything I do!!) council came out to look at it, and said they had no interest in persuing matter!!!

Hope above information helps

Peter
GoRSQ

[26CAB40]

http://www.junksale.co.uk/showthread.ph ... adid=51843

Pete G8CVF is selling this, a very very nice guy.

[5thElement]

Thanks for the information Peter, much appreciated!

26CAB40 - Cheers for that, not far from me, but i dont drive, hmm pretty tempted if i can get a lift! thanks

[m0mcy]

Hi
I have a very small garden with overhead power cables and a short vertical was my only choice, I bought the sandpiper MV6+3 and installed it ground mounted with about 12 short radials (garden is 12ft by 12FT ) and a ground spike.
Firstly if you compare it with a full sized antenna you will be disappointed, secondly be prepared to fiddle around with the setup to get it right for the part of the bands you are interested in! It took me a couple of hours to get it right for my uses.
Having said that I have made contacts and got good reports running 100w into it on 80,40,20, and 17 meters SSB. The bandwidth is not great on the lower bands but the internal tuner in my K3 will match it every time so far. Best contact so far Georgia in the USA from Leicestershire UK on 20m 5 and 6 report both ways. and all this at a time when we are still close to the solar minimum.
All in all i am very satisfied with it at the price.
Hope this helps 73 de Mike M0MCY