REVIEW: Wolf River Coil SB-1000

I bought this coil with the intent of using it for Parks on the Air (POTA) activations and as a general “all the options” antenna. The “Take It Along” bundle came with a tripod with feed point, three 33ft long radials, and a 102″ telescoping whip antenna. Right out of the box, I loved this whole antenna.

The first outing it had was the first NTARS POTA activation at Cleburne State Park. I tuned the antenna for 10m using my NanoVNA-4. It was rather quick and easy since 10m is pretty much bypassing the entire coil (collar at the top) and only resonates on the whip. I did discover later that 10m works better with a couple of whip sections collapsed for a 1:1.4ish match across the whole band.

The other bands all the way down to 75/80m tune pretty easily, so long as you have an antenna analyzer to help the process along. The bandwidth on 75/80 is tiny. But being able to have an 80m antenna I can pack up and carry in my backpack is a fair trade off. 40m and 20m work a dream. I’ve worked several DX stations with 100watts and a ground mounted antenna. I simply cannot state how much I like this antenna system.

You can even buy two SB-1000s and use them in a dipole configuration. Instead of a whip, you can use a wire attached to the end of the coil.

Finally, 15 and 10m. The log of our 10m contacts at Cleburne State Park should tell you everything you need to know about the performance of these DX-phile bands. I strongly recommend this antenna system for every operator, beginner to advanced.