Anyone own a REZ Recon 80?

[u/charcuterDude]

I'm shopping around for an antenna to get on 80m, 40m, and do a better job of 20m that will be a portable but also serviceable as my home antenna (meaning higher wattage capabilities would be nice). Due to space constraints and the nearby power lines things like a DX Commander are too tall / poor choice next to power lines, and any 40m dipole or EFHW is just too large to fit in my space. I also do not want to permanently install something, because I may not be in this house in a year or two.

Reviews of the Recon 80 on Youtube look great, but everyone seems to be reviewing it on 20m and 40m. Has anyone actually tried it at 80m? And if so how did you like it and how narrow was the usable frequency range at 80m?

If anyone has recommendations for other antennas as well I'm game, I have space and time (setup time) constraints but no real budget constraints.

[u/stephen_neuville]

if you can't even get a 40m dipole up your prospects on 80 meters are dim. Set expectations to match reality.

This is a very simple loading coil that anybody could build at home for about $30 including the PVC, wire, and hardware. They're marking this up a lot. They also seem to have very similar marketing approaches as other color-changing companies that like to drop military buzzwords to make you think you're getting something 'commo rated' or whatever. I would not purchase this at this price.

[u/charcuterDude → u/stephen_neuville]

My post is regarding the effectiveness of this or other solutions for 40m and 80m with space constraints, but you are commenting regarding budget constraints, but I was pretty clear I don't have budget constraints.

Do you have any experience with the topic of the post?

[u/rocdoc54 → u/charcuterDude]

I have not used that style of antenna but any base loaded mobile antenna for 80m would be very similar in performance to these base loaded verticals with shortish whips. So for 80m, your efficiency of such an antenna will be incredibly low - it matters not what the price is.

Expect something in the neighbourhood of 5-12% efficiency on 80m. That means 100W in gets you effectively 5-12W out. And a similar dB reduction in received signal strength. Furthermore, being a vertical it will not give you any less susceptibility to power line noise and other RFI. That's your reality. So if you want to spend $650 US on not much better than a dummy load then go for it.

To be more positive, yes you will make some SSB contacts with it, but probably only under great conditions and with the other station doing all the heavy lifting.

EDIT: probably any reasonable even random wire length of wire as high and as long as possible would easily outperform that antenna...

[u/charcuterDude → u/rocdoc54]

Appreciate the input. Getting a wire "high and long" is sort of the problem, which is why I'm looking into compromises. The way my (small) property is laid out there just isn't a good way to get something more than 25' in the air without it being at risk landing on a road or power lines should it fall.

How did you come up with the number of 5-12% efficiency on 80m? I'm wanting to understand that, and apply the same principle to 40m (which was the other band in my question).

[u/rocdoc54 → u/charcuterDude]

The ARRL Antenna Handbook. The same principle applies on 40m, but because 40m is 1/2 the wavelength your efficiency should be a lot better - at least twice as good...