Imagine an antenna that looks like no other.
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Imagine an antenna that feels like no other.
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Imagine an antenna that is colour matched to your tent or caravan!
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Imagine an antenna that has low SWR top band to 6m, has no counterpoises, no radials to trip over, can fit over a glassfibre pole or even hung in a tree.
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Imagine an antenna that is stealthy because it hides in plain site...
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You're imagining the Bantenna Sleeve antenna.
Sleeve video>>>
Remember remember...to tell me the colour you want. Available in bright red, wonderful black and now in Olive Green and NOW British DPM Camoflage...for those who want stealthy...
IMPORTANT...the sleeves are DESIGNED to fit a c40mm mast base. If you have a wider mast it WON'T fit. Bespoke sleeves are available at cost
Buy CAMO(with mast. for no mast use red or black or see shop)
Buy now...make mine GREEN (with mast. for no mast use red or black or see shop)
Buy Now...red or black
Buy Now red or black
The photograph left shows one of our Sleeve antennas in situ on a guyed mast. The antenna consists of a full length antenna wound and sewn within a nylon sleeve. The nylon slides easily over the fibreglass mast and once up can be used in all weathers. The sleeve itself is just about 6m long so works well on a 7m mast - we STRONGLY recommend that the top section of mast which is usually very sharp is taped over. Poking holes into the aerial is not recommended. We also recommend that the mast sections are taped when you erect them to prevent unwanted collapses. The unun is strapped to the mast just below the sleeve itself. Fit the wire to the bind post, connect your coax to the BNC and off you go. The sleeve will give less than about 3:1 SWR on ALL bands (individual aerials differ slightly as will your environment but we find 80m - 6m easy, top band can be tempremental). We test all aerial and UNUN pairs before dispatch. You will find some bands exhibit low SWR whilst some show slightly higher but this is normal. The way the aerials are manufactured means that some variability is inevitable - we feel the trade off for portablility is worth it and so many modern rigs have ATUs in them. This is a modern aerial for a modern environment. If you really really want to guarantee topband an ATU might be needed. You almost certainly wont need to use an ATU for many or most bands but any modern auto-ATU will easily tune the Sleeve for use anywhere you like! The sleeve folds down and can be stuffed into a rucksack of the boot of your car, panniers of your bike etc and will come to no harm.
The image to the left are my ununs in build status! Each unun comes with a fitted velcro strap to fasten it to the mast and with a 4mm bindpost and a well fitted SO239 socket. I used to fit BNC but I also ended up giving away a lot of BNC to SO239 adapters free of charge. Now I fit SO239. Every item I fit is what we think is the proper quality - by which I mean "good"! If you have feedback though and you disagree, do let me know. I can still fit BNC if you'd like one.
The image to the left is the Sleeve that was used for these figures. This shows four Sleeves, on masts, lying on the ground. These units are pre-production protoypes and tests. If you've ever wondered why R and D costs so much...there's your answer.
Do not fit a counterpoise or radial wires. We make no provision for the fitting of such unnecessary wires.
FREE STANDING GUY KIT...ALL NYLON, LIGHT WEIGHT.
Ok, so you've got the Sleeve antenna...you've got the mast...you've got the rig and you have walked an hour or so to the top of Ben Nevis (ok, go with me here...) but when you get to the top there's no way of mounting the aerial. Is this the end? NO! At bantenna, we thought of that so we have developed a small free standing mounting pack which consists of an SWR stable plastic choke ring, three guy ropes and three ultralight aluminium pegs.
Drop the ring over the antenna, attach the cords and tighten the ring. Hoist the mast, peg the pegs down and off you go! Job done! Weighs grams, costs a few quids but adds huge versatility. The photo opposite shows the effect of the freestanding mast.
UNUN SWR sweep
The image is a screen shot from a nanoVNA showing the SWR across the whole amateur allocation from topband to 10m. This really is just the unun and a resistor - but as you can see, the SWR is the same as shown when the antenna is fitted (plus and minus environmental factors of course. I usually find that with the genuine aerial fitted the SWR is NORMALLY below 3:1 for almost all bands. The aerials are all hand made so variations are bound to occur and we do try new windings in the never ending search for improvement.
The screen shot to the left shows RBN results of the sleeve antenna versus an endfed aerial. The reports on 058 are the sleeve whilst those on 056 are the Bantenna end fed . Whilst these results dont show the whole story, it certainly shows the aerials work: we are particularly proud that our endfed crossed the pond today. Our good friend Tom, G4TPH has used a Sleeve aerial for a recent contest and found that the Sleeve worked well . These findings are pretty much what we find too - a long run of wire WILL beat the Sleeve...but the Sleeve works if you can't fit a long wire! THESE DATA ARE FOR CW BUT THE AERIAL WORKS EXACTLY THE SAME ON SSB OR DATA.
The screen shot to the right is similar to the above but on 40m. The 029 figures are the sleeve and the 028 the endfed. Each antenna was fed without any ATU device. Every antenna we send out is tested on air so we know it works, if however when you get yours you don't think it's right we will fix it or replace it. Honest antennas are what we strive to sell. THESE DATA ARE FOR CW BUT THE AERIAL WORKS EXACTLY THE SAME ON SSB OR DATA.