Review of the 10' military surplus whip
You can order these from http://american-milspec.com
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Hi Group,
My AT-271/A whips arrived in the mail yesterday. I've had a few hours to play with them and I'd like to report my results to the group:
1. These are new and cost $26.00 each. I picked up a pair so I could build a dipole and also to have a spare.
2. They are new but seem to have been sitting around for a while. I used a small bristle brush on my Dremel tool to polish up the end of each section for good electrical contact. Each section has what appears to be a copper/brass ring on each end to ensure a solid mechanical and electrical connection.
3. The tip has a removable screw on cap which would make it very easy to attach an additional wire for extra height or to build a portable L type antenna. As a test, I attached a 20' length of standard zip cord to the top with the other end attached to a tent spike in the ground. There was very little bending of the antenna in moderate winds. The whip appears to be more than strong enough for extra lengths of wire at the top.
4. Each whip has a standard 3/8 x 24 male thread on the end making it compatible with any standard amateur mount.
5. The whips are very light and VERY solid. The are shock corded and break down to just over 17 inches. When setup they are 10' long. They don't bend or whip around much at all.
6. Using my AH-4 tuner and my tripod test bed, I successfully loaded them up from 40 to 6 meters. They work great.
7. I got these from Scott Sidener at american-milspec.com . They arrived in 12 days and were delivered by FedEx ground. Scott was quick to get the order out and responded in less than a day when I asked him for a delivery date.
All in all, I'm very happy with these. They are cheap, came from a good and responsive company and they work well. They are very well made and I have every reason to believe that they will last for a long time.
If you are looking for a good, portable vertical then I recommend you order one or more of these. I'm going to buy 2 more since I'm sure to come up with plenty of applications for them.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
73
Chris
KB7YOU