Hi Jon - NA9D
I have had the Bencher Skyhawk 3X10 in service at my
qth here on the windy and salt weathered Oregon Coast since
August 1999. It has held up very well in this environment
with no noticeable deterioration. The wind and water conditions
here on the coast have given it the acid test. Winds to 100 mph
occur every winter.
The antenna is very well built and really offers an assembly
process where it would be hard to go wrong. Installing it on
a tower with the boom to mast clamp and its tilt design was
a snap. A question arose during assembly and Bencher gave
us the direct number to Bob Locher, who answered our call
personally on the first ring with a very satisfactory response.
SWR across 20 meters was below 1.06:1
SWR across 15 meters was below 1.78:1
SWR on 10 meters was below 1.88:1 from 28.0 to 29.250 MHz
(As measured on an RF Applications VFD HF Power/SWR Wattmeter)
I run an Icom IC-775DSP, without any amplifier, and found that the
Skyhawk stands out there with excellent performance, even under
bad band conditions or during the pileups. The F/B and F/S ratios
are good enough to make some signals disappear if they are in those
side or back nulls.
It does work, albeit with higher swr on 17 and 12 meters but I knew
that going in and don't expect the same results that the three primary
bands offer with this antenna. The Icom internal tuner works fine with
it on 17 and 12 meters. Hope the information helps with your decision.
I researched antennas for 3 years before deciding on the Skyhawk.
Carl Somdahl, W7LI
PO Box 605
Pacific City, OR 97135-0605
503 965-7575
W7LI@arrl.net
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