Testimonials

A great place to look for reviews of Elk Antennas is eham.net. Just search the  Reviews section. Here are some recent examples:

"put this up at around 10 on a pvc mast(turn it by hand)i am using a ft-817nd,and with 5watts in the sf.bay area,with all the hills and valleys.talking 100mile plus on 2m/ssb and 430/ssb.great antenna,kent"(ka6osx)

"I bought two of these antennas. Put one up above my house and one above my shop. At the same time I had a M2 5WL with one and a M2 18XXX with the other. Hurricane Ike relieved me of both M2's and the Elk's remained intact with the exception of one element. I called the folks at Elk antenna to order another replacement and they sent one out to me without charge. Excellent folks to do business with and those little 24" antennas will surprise the dickens out of you on performance.
I can work 200+ mile stations regularly with 300 watts at 50' with similar equipped stations. YMMV"

"I received my Elk Antennas 2M/440L5 log periodic as a Christmas gift in 2006. In the past few weeks, I finally got around to making a PVC handle for it, and now it is my antenna of choice for portable satellite work.

Before the log periodic, my directional antenna for portable satellite work was an Arrow Antennas dual-band Yagi. A good antenna, and one I have used for over 3 years (and owned for at least 6). In January 2009, I made a PVC handle for my log periodic, and decided to try working the satellites exclusively with that instead of the Yagi.

When working the same types of passes I would try in the past with the Yagi, I could hear the satellite closer to the horizon with the log periodic. I have been able to turn shallow passes, with maximum elevation of 5 or 6 degrees, into productive passes - something I would rarely, if ever, do with the Yagi.

On the FO-29 satellite, I would need for the satellite to be at least 25-30 degrees above the horizon to hear it clearly on my dual-band Yagi. I would probably need a preamp to improve on that. Using the log periodic, I have been able to hear FO-29 closer to the horizon (between 5 and 10 degrees). This satellite is now fun to work, and may let me have some success on the old AO-7.

This is a great little antenna, and not just for satellite work. It can be a antenna for a home station, used for VHF/UHF contesting, as well as for satellite work. It is now a permanent fixture for my portable satellite station.

73!"
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK

"Just returned from 2 week medical mission trip (as radio operator) to isolated area in Honduras with International Health Service team. Put my Elk 2m/440 log periodic thru its' paces. Worked great! Set up atop @15 ft mast of lashed-together saplings. Enabled our team to keep 2m simplex contact with our HQ 22 miles away, even with intervening hills, even using 5w hand held. Survived 30+mph winds swaying back & forth on poles. Later, used it on an 8 ft pole tied to a fence post and established usable voice with HQ as we coordinated extraction using light aircraft. Great product. Small enough to pack in our equipment boxes." Steve, KI4ZUI

"Ordered this antenna sight unseen solely based upon user comments. All I can say is you won't be disappointed. I've purchased many antennas over the years but few have impressed me as much as this antenna. Whether you use it for portable use, fixed station use, it's a keeper. I'm ordering another next payday just to keep in the trunk of my car for special events and emergency use when I need to reach out and work those distant or fringe repeater systems."

"I just wanted to comment on my first day results with this antenna.

Today from DM13, I listened to the ISS crew talk with a class of kids. On the next pass, I made contact in Arizona. A few hours later I made contact with Kansas City on AO-51 (on a 15 degree pass). This was as exciting as my first HF contact.

I aimed the antenna by hand and used it with my FT-60.

I had attempted working the birds for weeks with various antennas but could never even hear them.

This is a great antenna and I would recommend it to anyone interested in working satellites."

Here are some older testimonials:

Hi Ray,

 Your new dual bander is just great! I was able to adapt it for hand held use for working OU-14 satellite in about one hour with great results.

Assemble the antenna in about 3 minutes, unless you're color blind.

I used a scrap piece of 1 inch PVC pipe as my handle with a 90 degree ell into the mounting structure. I used a 24 inch length of thin wall 3/4 inch PVC pipe that I slid over the coax and the  PL 259 fitting. I held this in place by stuffing a small piece of foam rubber into the PVC. This arrangement easily satisfies the requirement to have the coax run at 90 degrees from the antenna for at least 19 inches. 20 minutes on this max. 

Most of my time was spent programming the Doppler shift frequencies into my IC 706MKIIG, 30 minutes on this, probably less if I had read the manual first.

 I already had the pass predictions run from Sat Scope so I went out on the deck in my backyard with the 706 and a Gel Cell battery and waited for ASO. I used a cheapo compass and just eyeballed the elevation. Wait a few minutes. 

As soon as I heard the FM quiet, I called W6DXO QRZ OU-14 and got a call back almost immediately ... really easy. I have worked OU-14 for the past 4 days with no trouble at all. 

Other observations: 

SWR on 144 is almost flat.. about 1.2:1 across most of the band. 

You don't need a fancy carrying case, just use 2 or 3 rubber bands to hold the elements to the boom for transport or storage. 

No duplexer, just coax and a radio. 

If you want to experiment with the OU-14 satellite and have a radio that will run 144/430 and a 10 foot length of coax, you're ready to go. If you spend more than $4 bucks on this, there is something wrong! 

This is really a well executed design. 

Thanks,  Harry Edwards W6DXO

“This beam works super!”  - - - Gordon West, WB6NOA - - 2M Log periodic

“I have one of your 2M log periodic antennas and let me just say that the performance of it is exceptional!” - - - Steve W9ABZ- - - Mt View , CA

“Tonight I put your antenna on a shovel handle driven into my landscaping (4 feet above grade), hooked up the cable, turned on my beacon and immediately received an APRS acknowledgement. Needless to say, I’m quite happy with the performance of your antenna.  My transmission problems have been solved.” - - - Mark Pedroia  KF6TYS, 2M Log Periodic

“Just wanted to tell you how satisfied I have been with the 2M Log Periodic antenna. I installed it on a mast on the roof and have it pointed North to access the Berryessa repeater, 90 to 100 miles from my QTH in San Jose. Results have been very good, until I got the LP, I used a J pole and was always marginal, even with 25 watts. Now with the LP, I can have a solid QSO with my friend Jim, W6RWI, in Sacramento with 5 watts.

I appreciate the F/B ratio since the Monterey repeater is on the same frequency (different PL) and I am located about mid-point between the two repeaters.”

- - - Al Hadad AA6SB

“I bought one of your 440 antennas at the Foothill Swap a few months ago and it works GREAT! We’re getting the best bang for the buck , we get great range, bandwidth and directionality with a fleapower xmtr for the uplink video. Uplink works great!” Camera+audio>>LPDA   - - - Frank Hausman, SF

“I have been using your 2M LP as my primary directional antenna for foxhunting. It has good directional characteristics and is the most compact antenna I have found for the gain. This is very important for foxhunting, keep the antenna small and compact. This weekend I used your 440 Log Periodic on the 3^rd harmonic and it worked superbly. I have included your literature in my class notes for the class I teach on foxhunting techniques.” - - - Chris Stewart, KE6MNR  Sebastopole CA

“I bought one of your 440 LP antennas and am surprised how good it works.”

- - - Rollie Ayers KJ7FY  Lake Havasu City, AZ

“I bought a dual band log periodic (2M) antenna from you a few months ago and it has been working great!"”- - - KK7BEN, Benjamin Ng

“W7FGQ and I use the your 440 LPs at both ends of a link to our 75 Meter on a daily basis. We see a big improvement over our home built Yagis, like several S units.” - - - R H Hogland W7MZT