Bencher Skyhawk

If you have had any prior interest you knew that the Bencher Skyhawk was withdrawn from the market earlier this year due to a possible patent infringement. We stated that we were redesigning the feed to resolve this problem. That program is reached a most successful conclusion, and I am happy to announce that we are once again shipping Skyhawk antennas.

What are the changes we made? The most significant is that now each of the driven elements for 20, 15 and 10 meters is directly fed, using a single coax for all three, instead of using an open sleeve feed. How has this affected SWR? On 20 meters there is no change from our prior specifications. On 15 meters we have lowered the SWR; our test antenna is showing less than 1.3:1 across the band. On 10 meters the bandwidth has narrowed very slightly; maximum SWR across the design segment of the band is at 28.9 mHz and is 1.6:1, with an SWR of 1.3:1 at 28.0.

We indicated earlier that the limited performance on 17 and 12 meters would be reduced. In fact, while the SWR on 17 meters has gone up to 3.5:1 the antenna still seems to perform surprisingly well, though as before the modest gain is off the back of the antenna. SWR on 12 meters is also 3.5:1, with little or no apparent gain.

Driven element spacers will now be supplied as standard equipment with the Skyhawk.

All other specifications are essentially unchanged. We are delighted to be back in the market with what has already been proven to be the best antenna in its class, both in terms of performance and in quality.