My thoughts on the Gabil GRA-7350TC antenna system

Just a quick video discussing my likes and dislikes about the Gabil GRA-7350TC antenna. I've been using this antenna a lot since I got it, and overall I'm quite fond of it. It's very small, reasonably light, and fairly easy to set up and tune. If you've got any questions, leave them in the comments below, and I'll do my best to answer them. Thanks again for watching and 73!
Evan
K2EJT
www.buymeacoff...

[@TK4619]

I have this same antenna, I found using a large alligator clip with 5 wires each 6ft in lenght laid out on the ground allows me to get a great swr on 40m and up. I usually wind up with a 1.0 or 1.1 swr

[@KU9L]

I found if I put the tripod on a picnic table and elevate the counterpoise to a near consistent 4' height, the VSWR is very low & covers the whole band easily. I use it for POTA where I don't have the room to deploy an EFHW antenna.

[@EvanK2EJT]

Yeah, I can usually get the SWR very low if I elevate the counterpoise too. That's pretty much how and when I use mine as well.....POTA when I can't or don't want to put up my EFHW. Thanks for watching!

[@KU9L]

@@EvanK2EJT I am also getting real good results with using a couple of aluminum window screens for ground mounted versions of my verticals. They are not very SOTA practical, but for activations where I only have a short walk from my truck they are like having an amplifier on the antenna over my one radial I used in the past. I still need to do more testing, but this is the part of POTA that is so fun to experiment with.The most important part is to get a good alligator jumper connector between the two 76x84 screens & my ground spike with BNC connector. We are leaving CO soon so I will be testing more at the Rock Cut SP in N IL when we get our RV there in 3 weeks. Then in Mid-NOV can test it in FL. Fun.

[@jeremywho2289]

Great video, I've been considering one of these. I also like your cable spool, did you buy that? 3d print?

[@EvanK2EJT]

I got that from theqrpstore.com and it's awesome! Thanks for watching!

[@willie2333]

Would this antenna cover Cb bands 10,11,12 meter bands transmission and receiving when portable.

[@EvanK2EJT]

Yeah, it would work fine

[@HOAHamRadio]

You nailed it, great review covering all the factors, both plus / minus. It's a great antenna system.

[@goobercrow198]

“It is aluminum, like I said it’s built like a tank”😂 Not picking on you that just cracked me up. I do watch most of your videos too

[@EvanK2EJT]

😅I know it sounds funny.....but if you held it you'd see where I was coming from. It's VERY stout. Thanks for watching!

[@Dave-AA0IW]

Great video. I’ve been mulling over purchasing this antenna and tripod. I gotta ask…if you’re going out to a park and area/time are not concerns, are you choosing this over a wire? I’m struggling with the time it takes to change frequencies. I do band hop and with my EFHW or EFRW, or even the linked dipole, that’s a quick and relatively easy process to change bands. On the other hand, as you said, I think dx is more of a possibility with the vertical’s take off angle. Again, great video!

[@EvanK2EJT]

A lot of it depends on how lazy I'm feeling, and what there are for trees in the area. It's definitely easier to switch bands on an EFHW or an EFRW, but the setup and take down is a bigger hassle with those antennas as well. It's kind of a trade off. Once you get the hang of tuning the vertical, you can do it fairly quickly, but it's definitely not as fast as a wire antenna. Lately I've been running the vertical a lot because it's just so easy to set up and take down. Thanks for watching!

[@ChaplainDaveSparks]

I wonder how that compared head-to-head with the _Comet “Toybox” antenna?_ *73 de AF6AS in **_“DM13”_** land*

[@EvanK2EJT]

@@ChaplainDaveSparks I don't know that particular antenna, but I'll have to check it out!

[@EvanK2EJT]

@@ChaplainDaveSparks Okay, I, just looked. A lot of it is similar. Similar whip, and the separate coil looks very similar as well. The big difference is the main coil. Based on how that looks like it would work, you'd change the tap in the coil and then change the whip length to fine tune. Two different methods to the same end I suspect.

[@N1IA-4]

Great video. The thing with counterpoises on the ground is that the ground detunes them, making it tough to adjust the length and duplicate each time. I went with the Chamelon MPAS Lite, which uses a coil at the base that you can fine tune with the rig's internal tuner. It depends on the use case. To use the Gabil at home wouldn't be practical (for me) but in the field it could be fine. 73 de Scott W1AL

[@THEBossSound]

What about 60 meters?

[@EvanK2EJT]

Are you asking if it will work on 60m? The honest answer is I don't know. I've never tried. It might work with the 80m coil in, but I'm not sure you'd be able to get the other coil short enough. I'll have to give it a shot sometime and see what happens. I'm sure a good tuner would match it. Not sure how efficient it'd be though. It's already a compromise

[@gmanshackshack6822]

Use window mesh or aluminumized blanket as a counterpoise... FAR broader bandwidth.

[@EvanK2EJT]

Yeah, I've seen it done in other videos. I'll give it a shot. Thanks for watching!

[@Tony-iz8qn]

@EvanK2EJT Question, is your coax acting like a counter poise ?

[@tims.3204]

Thanks for the review! How many QSO's have you had with this configuration? Thanks! Tim...

[@EvanK2EJT]

I'll be honest, I have no idea. Hundreds. It works well. I did reconfigure the counterpoises, and it works better now. I went from that single radial to 4. I have a video on that as well. All in all I'm pretty impressed with the antenna for what it is. Thanks for watchign!

[@Ken-W1KAL]

Time for an approx. vertical 35 foot EFRW on a 10m DX Commander pole.. no counterpoise, vertical polarization

[@EvanK2EJT]

The problem with that around here is the foliage is so dense it's almost impossible to put up a mast. That little tiny Gabil barely clears in a lot of the of places I activate. If I worked more in the open, I'd consider doing something like that

[@Orbit2020]

Another fine video. Any thoughts on the tripod vs the new Chameleon carbon fiber tripod? They look similar.

[@EvanK2EJT]

I haven't had my hands on the Chameleon tripod yet, so I can't speak directly to it, but from what I've seen so far it looks really nice.

[@rjy8960]

I've been trying to get this mount for a different antenna project for months - Gabil are constantly out of stock and I can't source one locally in the UK. I went for the Chelegance MC-750 for portable ops. I've only used it a few times and been very pleased with it. I like the fact that you can make it a resonant unloaded antenna on 20m and above, 30m and 40m use the included loading coil. Setting up is pretty easy as the antenna whip itself is etched with approximate tune lengths for the bands which makes setup a snap, and I've not had to mess with the 4x included radials to tune it. The tripod base is about £35 and supports the antenna well. For a Chinese product I'm really impressed with the build quality and finish - even the carrying bag is nicely done. I prefer to use resonant antennae and also use the TX-500 as well as a recently purchased QDX digital radio and a Pi for /p - I've not tried the QDX in the field yet.... K4SWL has done some video's featuring it and also seems to like it (his video introduced me to it. For me, the main thing I like is that it is a full length radiator 20m+. The only thing it won't do is 80m but it is too much of a compromise on the band for me to see it as a real loss. The right choice for your application is such a difficult call to make and is such a personal set of compromises, so there is no such thing as the perfect one-fits all choice.

[@EvanK2EJT]

The MC-750 will probably be my next antenna. Everyone who has one loves it. As far as the tripod goes, I got mine on Amazon, and it shows in stock, but that's here in the US. they can be hit or miss as far as availability goes. Thanks for watching!

[@RobbSanderson]

Can you tune this antenna with an MFJ antenna tuner? As I don’t have any other way to bring the SWR down. 73s Rob,wa2fmh.

[@EvanK2EJT]

It's resonant. No tuner needed. It just takes a little fiddling with to get the tune right. Thanks for watching!

[@signalsoldier31]

Can you tell me another multibamd antenna besides end fed

[@EvanK2EJT]

Resonant or non resonant? If you're looking resonant, you can either go with a linked dipole or a resonant vertical like this Gabil, or a Chelegance MC 750. Chameleon, Buddystick, Wolf River Coils, etc also make excellent resonant verticals. You could also use a Mag Loop. For non resonant, you can go with an end fed random wire or a doublet. There are lots of other options out there. Thanks for watching!

[@signalsoldier31]

@Thorsonej efhw is usable and resonant on several bands unlike linked dipoles or verticals. 40 efhw good for 40, 20, 15 and 10. Only tune you do is when making antenna. After that raise and use it across several bands.

[@EvanK2EJT]

@@signalsoldier31 I'm aware, I just used one tonight. The problem with an EFHW is in a lot of places you can't put stuff in the trees, so you either need to carry a mast, or use a vertical. The Gabil in this video is resonant on every band from 80-10. The other nice thing about a vertical is the low take off angle. It's much easier working DX on a vertical than it is on an EFHW, especially one you're using portable because it's VERY hard to get a 66' long wire high enough to be really effective at DX. That being said, my first contact tonight from the park was Argentina, and I was on an EFHW, so there are always exceptions to the rule LOL

[@JayN4GO]

👍🏼👍🏼

[@EvanK2EJT]

Thanks for watching!

[@forgetyourlife]

The top threads are M10 unfortunately.

[@EvanK2EJT]

The are, but it's pretty easy to make an M10x1.5 to 3/8 24 adapter.

[@forgetyourlife]

@@EvanK2EJT make?☺️ that pretty resourceful. They are 20 bucks at McMasterCar. I’d probably go that route.

[@EvanK2EJT]

@@forgetyourlife LOL I mean, I have taps for both size holes, as well as a drill press. I've also got scrap aluminum kicking around. I could make one for free in about 10 minutes.... But McMaster Carr sells them as well, so if you didn't have all of that stuff readily available that's definitely the easier route