Review ECO tribander 10m – 15m – 20m

The Italian manufacturer of ECO antennas offers under product number 279 tribander on 10m – 15m – 20m without the possibility of extension to other bands. Trapped tribander is produced by several companies, while probably the most famous tribander is Cushcraft A3S. How is ECO different?

ECO tribander

ECO tribander is a two-element trap antenna with curved elements (like Moxon beam). The manufacturer chose an emitter-reflector combination, while designing the antenna to have an impedance of 50 ohms at the feed point. The dimensions are thus smaller than the classic one yagi, the longest element has a span of 550 cm and a boom of 350 cm. The weight is less than 15 kg.

Due to the limited space options on the roof, I was so interested in the ECO tribander that I bought one at the beginning of the year.

Features declared by the manufacturer

In the cardboard box you will find all the components of the antenna and a detailed procedure for assembling the antenna. The Italian antenna companies did not "disappoint" and so I added a few washers and nuts to their material. Otherwise, the box was filled with many pages of Italian newspapers, hi.

The machining of parts is precise and good. Assembling the antenna is easy, but I recommend first assembling the elements and traps. There is a hole on the underside of the traps through which the water is supposed to drain. If you mount the elements on a boom without traps, you may have to turn them over after installing the traps so that the hole is on the bottom side.

The ends of the elements face each other and there is an insulating line between them. Don't be surprised that the elements are slightly bent (like a bow) after their installation. The 1:1 balun is fixed above the boom. After connecting the coaxial cable, treat the joints against water ingress.

The antenna has no adjustment elements. The manufacturer reports very good PSV curves on all bands, which is quite brave, because otherwise the antenna will behave a few meters above the ground and, say, on a mast at a height of 40m. In a small range, it is possible to change the spacing of the elements and thus correct the antenna setting.

The mast mount could be more massive. The console begins to deform when the nuts are tightened more strongly.

In my case, the antenna is about 14m above the ground on a sloping roof made of eternite. A few tens of centimeters from the antenna is a high lightning rod and about three meters away is the end of a 5-band dipole. The antenna has excellent PSV in the 20m and 15m bands, the lowest is in the SSB segment. It is also very good in telegraphic segments. In the 10m band, PSV is higher. The lowest value is 1.3 at 28.2 MHz. At 28.5 MHz it is 1.7 and at 28.6 MHz it is 1.9. Apparently, the proximity of surrounding objects is reflected in this band.

How does the antenna behave in sharp operation?

He especially checked the antenna IARU HF Championship and occasional DX operation. Ten is mostly closed, so three common tens DXCC from Europe, Asia and Africa is not an authoritative result. I tentatively tried invoking s QRP also 100W. On 5W it required more patience and some stations could not even be called. Conditions are conditions, no antenna can deceive them...

Pásmo 15m býva otvorené častejšie. Podarilo sa zalogovať napríklad 5U na prvé zavolanie, CN, CT3, LU, OH0, PY, T7, ZD8 a ďalšie. Tu som QRP neskúšal, používal som 100 až 300W.

„Dvadsiatka“ je asi najlepšie otvorená v týchto mesiacoch a tak sa venujem najmä tomuto pásmu. A je to poznať. V logu je množstvo staníc z Ázie (4S, 9K, 9M2, A4, A7, AP, BV, BY, HL, HS, JA, S2, VR2, VU, XU, YA,…), Afriky (5X, 6W, 7X, 9Q, ET, J2, S7, ZD7, …). Z Pacifiku zatiaľ len blízke 9M6. Asi najcennejšie je VP8/F, kde bol poriadny pile-up. The power used is mostly 300W.

Despite only two elements that suggest that the radiation pattern is wide, it pays to point the antenna precisely. Comparison with 5-band dipole Diamond W-8010 is clearly in favor of the turn signal. The difference expressed in S-meter is +5 to +30dB. Of course, the dipole loses a lot, since it cannot be rotated like a turn signal.

A radio amateur's decision to lean towards one or another antenna is also a matter of feeling. Among the advantages of the antenna you can also include the possibility to use a small rotator, AR-300XL, and resistance in the wind. A week after installation, a windstorm swept through the Tatras, tearing down several roofs and uprooting a few trees. However, it did not harm the antenna at all, even though the wind was leaning against it quite a bit.

"Virtue out of necessity" - I could not implement the intended one due to space limitations spider beam, let alone a classic trapped tribander. However, the ECO 279 runs well. If you are looking for a compact antenna for three bands, consider whether it is not a suitable choice for you as well.