It was around this time I took delivery of a President Himalaya WB. The replacement antenna to the original Himalaya and a relative of the Black Pirate 5R. The latter being the antenna of choice around central part of Europe for a very long time. Myself I used one portable during the 1990’s on DX hunting trips from mountains around the then Czechoslovakia. So how’s it’s fared in this time the new Wide Band (WB Himalaya)

Paints a little chipped

It’s been assembled, moved, assembled in excess of 200 times so a little worn on the screw thread in the middle section

SWR excellent across all the areas that I use. Compared to my Antron, Himalaya 5R its a giant step forward in the coverage. Can’t fault it. It’s not changed during the year.

Even with a Radio 4 and not much, in some cases no signal I’ve spoken to people. It’s very low noise and appears to work exceptionally well as I live in QRM hell. No other word for it than that.

Contacts: As we know conditions are on the way down now but I’ve managed some nice contacts such as Saudi Arabia almost on a daily basis, Russia, all around the EU, Canada and some states in the USA on both SSB and AM.

Height: I’m restricted a lot. I live at 134m above sea level, antenna is low. It sits on a metal fence in the garden on a 5ft steel pole. It’s not even over the apex of the house so it’s low! But it works from here just as well as from a hill on a mast. So, when I look at my contacts I’m satisfied based on height.

Price: A little expensive but European manufactured and long warranty of 10 years. I think that I’ll need speak to someone about warranty some years down the line as my antennas are assembled and used many times over, many places so threads on screws are effected over the years. But that’s not for now.

Radials: Never tried my Himalaya radials on the new antenna! I’m not sure they’d work or do any good at all. I was asked by a few people if I’d tried it and I’ve not. Maybe I will try it down the line a bit.

Coverage: It’s as good as they say. I can use mine to bottom of 12m, and with ATU can get a reasonable contact on 15m if I need it with an ATU. But just standard operation without ATU easily from 24-30 MHz with no issues at all.

Easy to pack to take to the hills, takes minutes to get on air. Works for me!

Many including myself were surprised at the removal of the tuning rings made famous by the Antron 99, IMAX 2000 and previous Himalaya. But they’ve gone and replaced by a shiny metal cover which is the same as used on the Texas 1800 Power.

What’s it like in another year and where has it spoken too? That’s another chapter down the road I guess.

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