The first operation for this antenna was the 2006 CQWW DX Phone Contest.  I used a Ameritron AL572 linear with my IC756 Pro-2.  I had 1000 watts to the antenna (as measured with the AL572 and a Mirage Watt Meter.  The reflected power was less than 5 watts.  I monitored the dump power with a HM102 Wattmeter.  The most observed dump power was 25 watts, during a heavy storm that hit us that evening

My contacts were with 88 countries in 31 zones, on 75 M SSB. In the CW contest, I was able to work 113 countries in 34 zones (647 QSO's). I have used the system for several months, starting to hear Europe about 2 1/2 hours before sunset, and being able to hear and work JA and VK for 1 1/2 hours past sunrise.

The antenna demonstrates excellent directionality. I get reports between 15 to 25 dB front to back and 20 dB front to side. Stations that are around 90 degrees azimuth from my QTH show similar results whether using the NE or SE direction, but I can null out stations up the East Coast by selecting the SE lobe.

These are comments from Austin, N4WW.  “K9ES was beating me out of any pile up we were in together so his 4 square is much better than mine. Dennis of Dino's tower service just finished my 80 meter 4 square just before the contest. It has  great front to back. Almost as good as a beam but doesn't transmit all that well yet as only have 20 radials on each tower. Hopefully will double that number by CQWW CW. My 4 square is in the middle of dense woods and I suspect Eric's location nearer to the ocean and no tree's between elements makes the difference of blowing me away in head to head battles.”  Other comments from people 100 miles south of my QTH reported signal strengths of 40 to 50 over S-9.  When I selected the beam to the NW direction, reports from the Midwest were just as good.  During the opening into ZL, I was told that my signal was 20 dB over S-9.  But the most indicative sign that the antenna was performing is I was able to run DX stations in Europe for over 2 hours at a rate of better than 1 per minute.  The front to side and front to back ratio seemed to be at least 30 dB to the side and 26 dB to the back..

This antenna requires some space to run the radials.  Overall, the cost is about $200 per vertical, plus the Comtek phasing box.  The antenna is the best 80 meter antenna that I have ever owned, and well worth the investment, and much less than the cost of a very high 80 Meter Yagi.  The operational bandwidth performance exceeds that of most shortened yagis.