THE CHALLENGER DX
The Challenger antenna is the first production multiband antenna to
utilize GAP technology. Thousands of Challengers are now in use
throughout the world. From the jungle of New Guinea to the bitter cold
of Finland to the brutal sands of Desert Storm, Challenger with its
elevated feed links its user with rest of the world. Challenger is the
first and only antenna capable of operating on eight separate bands from
3.5 MHz to 144 MHz. Its operating bands are 80m, 40m, 20m, 15m, 12m,
10m, 6m, and 2m. Over 130 KHz of bandwidth is provided on 80m. On 2m
Challenger is a great base station antenna.
CQ tested the Challenger and established that on 2m, for example, its
gain was approximately 6 to 8dB. On 40m compared to a mono band
vertical, they found Challenger an S unit stronger. This is typical of
the many reports received from amateurs around the world. Challenger is
designed to be mounted directly in the ground or elevated. A ground
mount is provided with each antenna. With the ground mount in place, the
Challenger simply drops in. If necessary, because of space limitations,
but not to improve performance, Challenger may be roof mounted since it
does not require earth loss to obtain a 50 ohm match. Challenger
requires a counter poise of three 25ft. insulated wires. They may be
buried or just scattered on the ground. Symmetrical deployment is no
critical. Adding additional wire will not significantly improve
performance. All of these are covered in a 16-page assembly manual
provided with each antenna.
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