PhoenixHamRadio.com

I live in a community whose CC&R's prohibit visible antennas, so to get on the air I purchased a Ventenna model VT-27 2m/70cm dual-bander and installed it on my roof. On that first evening I tuned around the 2m and 70cm bands to find all the repeaters I could hit with a clear signal and clean copy. When I was finished testing, the count was around 40 local and not-so-local repeaters. The least local was a 2m repeater on Superstition Mountain about 70 miles from my home in Surprise. Best of all, on that particular repeater the other station asked me if I was using a beam antenna, and I replied, "No, I'm running 50 watts through a Ventenna!" He was impressed with the VT-27's performance, and of course, so was I.

DISCLAIMER: I receive no compensation of any kind from The Ventenna Company. I'm just a satisfied customer.

You can find their amateur radio products @ http://www.ventenna.com/Ham-Pricing.html.

If you get around to it, post some pics of the install...

The Ventenna as seen from the sidewalk (in approximately the center of the pic):



Here's a close-up:



In the spirit of full disclosure, you can see I get a stealth assist from the neighbor's landscaping, and I color-matched it to the roof.

FYI, the VT-27 2m/70cm Ventenna is 36" tall, unity gain, radiates a near perfect torus (or so says the manufacturer), and my SX-600 meter tells me SWR is less than 1.5:1 at the bands' edges and 1.1:1 toward the bands' centers. I've seen users' claims (not the manufacturer's) that the Ventenna also radiates on 10m and 6m, but when I tried it on low power with my FT-8900R, SWR was crazy high just as I expected.

Great idea, and good pics.

A bit to pricey in this economy now. But, something on my to-get list when things get better.

Thanks for sharing.