Has anyone heard anything about Hawkins Radio? They make the Thunderbolt and Viper Antennas and usually trade on eBay. On their Facebook page, They said they were going on holiday (about 15 weeks ago) and haven’t been heard from since. No products on eBay and enquiries on the Facebook page are not being replied to. Shame because their products are really good for portable
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Don’t be off put by a short delay in getting a reply but 15 weeks!
I believe he’s a one-man-band and has been selling antennas for years. I’ve bought Viper and Thunderbolt antennas from him and was happy with the performance and quality of construction. Most recently I bought this Thunderbolt 6m flowerpot which did a great job on Red Screes in June 2022.
I haven’t used it much but that’s more to do with my being available and getting to a SOTA summit whilst 6m is open.
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I have the 6M one which is good. I made the mistake of buying the 2M 7/8 wave and intended on getting the 5/8 wave version, Looks like he has packed up for good. I’m looking for a decent portable 70 cm antenna as well
It seems for whatever reason Hawkins Radio is no more. This is a shame as I was also after a 2M 5/8 wave and a 4M version. I know someone is bound to say try making one yourself but I would never be able to replicate the build quality and finish. I will have to make do with the 2M 7/8 wave.
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Practice makes perfect.
there is a massive difference between HB and something that has been made commercially
Yes, HB is much more satisfying and rewarding. And probably cheaper.
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HB will probably fall apart on an activation, nothing satisfying about that!
You have to give these things a go. The whole point of the hobby is experimentation. Don’t be so negative about your abilities.
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There’s a huge variation in the quailty of soldering in the commercial market, I’ve seen some shocking examples.
There’s a good chance that home brew can be better than bought.
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I put the video on to show the quality of Nigel’s work
You don’t have to if you don’t want to. Spectrum Communications do a 4m version of their Slim-G.
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I have the 2M version of the G Pole, I always get bad reports when using it
Interesting. I regularly work over 100km, and 160km summit to summits with my one. Which radio do you use it with?
818 and various handhelds, nothing wrong with the received signals
I agree with the sentiment but how many attempts should we make before giving up and buying it? Depends on the person. For me, trying to make a 5/8th flowerpot, N=1. The wasted materials cost is also a factor.
Only if you know what you’re doing and are using the right materials - the quality vs iterations could trend in the rubbish direction. I’m glad I bought a 6m flowerpot from Hawkins Radio, excellent quality and RF performance.
BTW: Pity the number of times I was free to do SOTA, discovered that 6m was open at the time, and drove, walked and set up at the summit before the 6m opening had disappeared was vanishingly small.
And before someone retorts by saying it will be perfect by random chance after the number of attempts N tends to infinity, e.g. even Monkeys will type Shakespeare, that myth has been debunked …
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I had a bit of success on 6M SSB during SpE season in past years when the band opens, my Hawkins 6M Thunderbolt (flowerpot) certainly does the business especially as at present on only 6W from my FT818, I do have a Tokyo Hy-Power 50W Linear Amp that needs the on/off switch looking at and needs a new ACC port on the back as the archaic port on the back is of use to nobody! I may try 6M at Bardon Hill in late spring when the season starts. 50W would be useful as I have heard Canadian stations on six but never enough power to get back to them
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Yes this is exactly my issue. I enjoyed fiddling around with my LoRa boards but I messed the soldering up quite badly on one that it wouldn’t work after (I think I have soldered two header pins together in an horrible mess…). Luckily I had a second one (bought when they were two on offer) and managed without breaking it, but it looks awful. I’m in no rush to repeat it.
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There’s a massive difference between soldering on a high density surface mount LoRa board and hooking together some wire. Aerials are the one area where you can make something much cheaper than you can buy and not worry about making a mess of it.
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