I had a chance to use the inexpensive whip I bought through AliExpress recently. While it performed well enough, I encountered a couple of minor quality issues. That’s certainly not surprising, given its $18 USD price tag.
I made an early morning trip to Ridley Creek State Park (US-1414, KFF-1414). I coupled the AliExpress whip with my homebrew loading coil. My rig today was my Penntek TR-35 (5 watts, CW).
Extending the whip, I noticed that two of the sections were pretty tight and took some effort to pull them out. Better tight than loose, I guess. Another issue is that the crimp that holds the mounting stud in the bottom section of the antenna was a little loose. When the antenna was fully seated in the mount, I could still rotate the antenna.
Because this whip is longer than a quarter wave on 20M, I didn’t extend the first section from the bottom. Using an antenna analyzer, I was seeing SWR readings similar to my MFJ-1979 whip. The SWR readings seemed stable. So, I guess the suspect crimp is making a good enough connection.
Band conditions seemed so-so this morning. Despite that, I logged 25 contacts on 40M and 20M in an hour, including three park-to-park contacts. I didn’t work any DX stations today, but I worked a station on the west coast in Washington on 20M.
Even with its issues, the whip did a pretty decent job this morning. It won’t replace my MFJ whip, but it will have a place in my antenna arsenal.
72, Craig WB3GCK
WB3GCK QRP Amateur Radio 