Portable Radio in the Palatinate vineyards - Chelegance MC-599 under test

Hello, my name is Marco DD6FM and I live in Landau in der Pfalz (Palatinate), DARC local club K14. It's the end of July and I'm taking advantage of the sunny day to test the MC-599, a portable shortwave dipole from 7-50 MHz. Here in the vineyards there are many beautiful places with picnic tables, perfect for testing. I also found a nice spot with a good view in almost all directions.

Chelegance MC-599

As a portable radio operator, I am always interested in new antennas. As the conditions are different every time, there is no such thing as the perfect antenna for me. I take the aerial that is most practical for the location in question with me. That's why it's always good to have a few different types and designs of aerial to hand.

The Chelegance MC-599 antenna

The advantage of a telescopic dipole is of course that you can quickly turn it in other directions. The antenna covers all bands from 7 Mhz - 50 Mhz. 40 m is done with two wires, which are installed as an inverted V. The remaining bands are built only by using the telescopes. The antenna can handle up to 200 W PEP (100 W CW and FT8).

Let's take a look at the contents that are supplied. The bag measures 57.5 x 11 x 7.5 cm and weighs 1.4 kg. So it is relatively compact and the weight is also okay. Two telescopes of 5.6 m each, a balun with M14 thread to hold the mast and an adapter. Everything is very clear.

The mast and stand are not included, I'm using one from Buddipole. Unfortunately, I only have one with a height of around 3.50 metres. It would of course be an advantage to use a longer mast here, but everything worked very well as it was.

Chelegance MC-599
Chelegance MC-599 Chelegance MC-599

Structure and precise tuning

Let's move on to the setup and take a closer look at the antenna. For the 14, 18, 21, 24 and 28 MHz bands, everything is set using only both telescopes. There are markings on the telescopes for the respective frequencies. That turned out to be about right, but of course you have to make some minor adjustments depending on the set-up, location and height of the antenna.

The telescopes have an M10 thread. On my Buddipole mast, you can unscrew the NTP 1/2 thread at the top and then have the hole free to insert the adapter that is supplied. You just have to stick it down a little, perhaps with insulating tape, so that it doesn't turn, or you can use the appropriate holder with an M14 thread on the mast.

Test of the Chelegance MC-599

Then we get started, I set the telescopes to 14 MHz and measure the SWR. I am a little too low in the frequency and have to shorten it a little, but then it fits perfectly.

There's not much to say about the set-up itself, because it's all very simple and quick to do. Screw the telescopes into the balun, place the balun on the mast, roughly tune it and push the mast upwards.

Let's take a look at the SWR at 20 metres. Perfect as expected.

As I'm still quite early today at 8.30 a.m., there's still very little going on on 20 metres. But the signals that are there are strong and clear.

Chelegance MC-599 Chelegance MC-599

Then I test the 15 m band. Everything is fine here too... Of course I also tested all the other high bands, the SWR is consistently very good on all bands and below 1.5.

So, for the 40 m band we need the 2 wires that are included. These are attached to the top of the telescope connectors. You can use the telescopes for this or get 2 screws of a suitable size. The only other thing you need are 2 ground spikes. Or you have trees available somewhere to the left and right.

There were no problems in the 40m band either. I was a bit too low in frequency, probably because my mast was too low and the guy was on the ground. But I could easily raise this to the right frequency by moving the mast and shortening the side sections. It's best to take a few cable ties or something similar with you for this.

Chelegance MC-599
Chelegance MC-599

My conclusion

I am very satisfied with the antenna, the signals were consistently very loud and tuning the bands was relatively quick. The markings are pretty accurate, of course you have to retune a little depending on the location, but that's no problem at all.

73 de DD6FM - Marco

Chelegance MC-599

MC-599 Portable shortwave dipole 7-50 MHz

The portable Chelegance MC-599 multiband antenna offers first-class technology for passionate radio amateurs. Thanks to precise manufacturing and high-quality materials, it guarantees outstanding performance in signal transmission. The antenna is optimized for use on the shortwave bands and is characterized by excellent reception efficiency.

To the product

Share this post with friends!