Marius Lubbe ZS1ML
(copyrighted, but free to use as one complete article, with reference to the original URL and with no changes)
I have been following some very positive reviews on YouTube about the G. Gabil GRA-7350TC antenna and decided I had to have one for portable operations.
Contacting G. Gabil in Taiwan https://www.gabilradio.com/gra-7350tc was easy and they promptly sent it to me via courier. The cost of the courier service can be quite expensive, and it may be cheaper to get yours via Amazon or a local dealer.
This antenna arrived in a sky-blue plastic sleeve in which I got three parts. The bottom part is a stainless-steel connector in either a ⅜ inch connector or a PL259 type screw on connector. The rest of the bottom section is a coil type adjuster made of stainless steel, aluminium, and Fiber reinforced plastic.
This a solid piece of kit, well-engineered and will not easily break. It also has a hand-locking nut for when you have made you adjustment of the coil you can lock it down, preventing the coil from slipping. In fact I dare you to try moving it after you have tightened it down well. This coil will withstand a lot of wind and movement without going out of tune.
Next up is an optional 80m coil that screws in before you put the telescoping antenna on top of the antenna. I do not use 80m much during portable operations and leave that in the bag when I go out with it.
As mentioned before on the top comes a screw-in section of very durable telescoping antenna. This section is approximately 2190mm long and has 13 sections to it. The telescoping part is lightweight and will not take very rough handling, but is surprisingly well engineered and quite adequate for the purpose it was designed for. I would for instance not drive with this top telescoping part fully extended, and mounted on your car. With some care, however, it will give you years of good service.
I was immediately struck by the extremely high quality of this antenna system, and it is clearly of the best quality you can expect from the top Japanese and USA makers. At the price this is very good value for top class manufacturing.
The antenna is complete, and when ordering, you can choose between a either a ⅜ inch connector or a PL259 type screw on connector. It will fit either type of mount on a car or a tripod of your own construction. BUT… I want to recommend that you look at the Gabil GRA-ULT01 tripod that I will describe below. This is a fantastic tripod and as one YouTuber described it, a “Swiss Army Knife of Tripods”.
For now, lets get back to the antenna. Once mounted on the Gabil GRA-ULT01
tripod, the antenna is easily set up in all sorts of terrain, and highly adjustable for uneven ground or rocky sites. It is even quite at home on a balcony in an apartment or HOA home where it will be stealthy and not attract attention.
WILL IT ANTENNA?
I am always skeptical of small antennas that promise to do everything a good HF antenna will do and have seen some spectacular failures by well-known manufacturers that promised big results in small packages. Not so the GRA-7350TC!
I can immediately put your mind to rest with this Gabil GRA-7350TC antenna. It is everything you would want and a lot more in a small but sturdy form factor. The antenna is durable, easily tuned and will last you a long time.
You start by screwing in the bottom (movable coil) part into the tripod or mount and putting either the extra 80m coil or the telescoping antenna on the top. Pull the telescoping antenna out to its maximum length and then start moving the bottom coil until you reach an ideal SWR on your antenna analyzer.
Once you are happy with your tune on the coil, you lock it down with the fiber nut and make small adjustments on the telescoping antenna section, if needed. That is, it, you are ready to operate. I want to emphasize, this is a very good little antenna.
Let’s talk about the fantastic Gabil GRA-ULT01 tripod that can be ordered as a separate item. This is not a cheaply made tripod, but rather an extremely well-engineered piece of equipment suitable for ⅜ inch or PL259 antenna connections and even comes with an adapter for a universal camera or video mount setup, for which it is ideally suited.
It comes as a small, chunky, tabletop type tripod which has adjustable lens that will extend to 330 cm and locks down at any point with a solid locking nut. It is simple to use one handed and very versatile.
You can have it stand as a small table top tripod, a medium or tall floor standing tripod, or a trip on uneven terrain with different leg lengths. Not only does the legs extend but also unfold from vertical to completely vertical if you need a very study base in a windy situation. The tripod legs are comfortable with foam covering for the hands and easily lockable click tabs to swing open to different points.
The Gabil GRA-ULT01 tripod comes with two stems to fit either a 3/8th fitting complete with a SO239 coax connector and also a PL259 fitting on a separate stem with a SO239 coax connector as well as an additional 3/8th to ¼ inch adapter for standard camera tripod fittings. Additionally, and quite handy for me are the grounding kit which are 5 ground lugs that fit around the connector to which you attach your ground radial wires. All these components for the Gabil GRA-ULT01 tripod set comes in a good quality nylon protective bag.
The specs as provided for the antenna are:
Frequency:3.5MHz 7-30/50MHz Band
Max. Power rating:130W (SSB) Impedance:50Ω
Length: approx.2.6m (Max)
Weight: 500g (with 3.5MHz part), 336g(without 3.5MHz part)
Connector: 3/8″-24
Type:1/4 wave reduced type (HF Band),1/4 wave (50MHz)
This combination of Gabil GRA-7350TC antenna and Gabil GRA-ULT01MarkII tripod is a winning solution and I highly recommend it to you.
(Some photographs courtesy of G.Gabil)
