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You can
write your own review of the Alpha Delta DXLB Plus.
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VE4TTH
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 8, 2011 13:13
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Great Antenna!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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The reception on all bands is exceptional, 40 - 20 - 10 Meters is nearly flat with an SWR of under 1.2 for over 50 percent of the bands, and under 1.5/1.7 for the remainder of the three bands listed.
It does have a narrow bandwith on 80 and 160 meters, but that was expected and clearly stated in the sales literature. I was surprised that I could still use 18 - 15 - 12 and 6 meters? The SWR is up around 3.5 - 5.0, but with the antenna tuner built into my Kenwood TS-2000, it's well within its range. I made a contact a few days ago to the North West Territories on 18 meters, and my signal report was 59 plus 10db running only 100 watts.
I have the antenna mounted in an inverted V, the apex is 55 feet up with the ends at about 22 feet. Tuning it to the desired bands is easy, but follow the instructions and DO NOT CUT the antenna, just fold it back and twist it secure.
73
VE4TTH
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WV4I
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 1, 2010 01:30
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Well made antenna
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Alpha Deltas are very well made antennas, using heavy duty center connectors and #14 solid wire. They easily go together in about an hour.
The stated power limits are 600W CW/PEP for 80/160, and 1kw CW/PEP 40-10M. Attic/indoor, 100W. Outdoors, I suppose the limiting factor is the coils from reading other reviews?
I have mine up in a slightly inverted vee, with the apex at 30', ends at 10'. I do NOT have a coax choke at feed point yet...put up on Friday just in time for CQWW SSB :).
Rough measurements using SWR sweep function of IC-746Pro, 2:1 BW:
160M: 1.8-1.82
80M:3790-3840
40M: entire band, most <1.5:1
30M: >2:1
20M: entire band, most <1.5:1
17M: >2:1
15M: >2:1 entire band
12M: >2:1 entire band
10M: 28.050-28.550
Obviously something is happening on 15M, and getting some RF into shack on that band. As 15M on this model antenna is derived from 40M section, and 40M works so well, I probably have a feedline length problem, local interaction, something, on that band.
Overall, a very nice antenna, and no surprise that it played VERY well in CQWW SSB, on all non-WARC bands except 15M.
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W9CPI
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 16, 2010 09:18
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Durable and gets out
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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It has worked great for me in Illinois for 1.5 years as my only antenna. It's up as an inverted vee, 40 ft at center. I made WAS and DXCC with 100w, and finished 5th in W9 area in WPX CW contest, all band low power. I run it on all bands 160 through 10 meters. Before moving back to Paraguay I finished with 144 countries: 63 on phone, 134 on CW, and 87 on RTTY. I had 36 states on 160m. I would buy this model again.
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KC9NCS
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Rating: 5/5
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May 1, 2010 10:09
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Good Antenna, Worth The Price
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I've had my Alpha-Delta DXLB Plus up for about 5 months now and I'm very happy with its performance.
Initially I put it up as an alternative to my Mosley Tribander after my rotor failed in the beginning of winter but have found myself using it increasingly as my primary antenna.
Assembly was easy and straight-forward, tuning on 10/20/40 was easy, 80 and 160 have been a bit more challenging and I still need to do some tuning on those bands, although my antenna tuner has managed just fine. I've been able to make contacts on 40 and 80 meters both in the US and Europe on just 100 watts using a Kenwood 940SAT.
SWR's for me are easily under 1.4 on 10/20/40, 80 is a little high at 1.7 and 160 is over 3, but again I have more work to do to tune 160 which frankly hasn't been a priority for me.
I don't understand others who've said to keep the power down on 80/160 as I've pushed 600 watts+ on 80M and have not had issues with the coils, at least yet. I've also made contacts on the WARC bands using the DXLB Plus, mostly on 17m which tunes up just fine on my Kenwood 940SAT.
Overall I'm happy I spent the money on the antenna, and would recommend to others.
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N2DTS
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Rating: 4/5
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May 7, 2009 17:01
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watch the power
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I melted the 160 and 80 meter coils running 300 watts of AM.
I removed the 160 and 80 meter parts because the plastic the coils were wound on stretched much longer than they were and unwound the coils.
It works very well if you keep the power (and duty cycle) down.
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KC8QMF
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 17, 2009 18:29
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Great for small city lots.
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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Purchased this antenna about six months ago.
I have been very happy with the performance so far. It is narrow in the 160 band (20kz) but was very easy to assemble. It performs well on all bands with a wide ranging tuner. I have it installed in the inverted v position at 40ft. in the apex and 15ft. on the ends.
My first time with 160 capability's. So far have worked out to 1800 miles from western Ohio.
We only run 100 watts and do mostly CW.
All in all alot better than G5RV that was installed before.
This antenna is very well made and is built to last in harsh weather conditions.
If your looking for a REAL all band antenna, this could be the one for you. It will not have the signal of a 2 wave length wire but you will be heard on 160. Also just a little high in price,but Hey, I'm on the air!!!
Mike/KC8QMF
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VE3FDT
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 18, 2009 00:07
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Excellent!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Just over 3 years ago I decided to get back to Ham radio after a more than 20 years break. For the first 2 years I operated without an amplifier and with a "simple" DX-LB+ dipole. Am I happy with the results? Unequivocally: yes! I honestly believe that DX-LB+ was a major contributor to my 200+ DXCC entities in the first 6 months and 250+ DXCC entities in the first 2 years.
The DXLB+ works well on the 6 bands from 160m (very narrow on 1.8 MHz!) to 10m. Somewhat worse on the WARC bands (30, 17, 12). Total overall length is 100ft (50ft per leg). This was a major reason for my choice, since I am on a "postage stamp size" city lot.
Assembly is really straightforward. I was able to assemble the antenna in about 30 minutes. Instructions are simple and, in fact, the antenna is simple enough to put together without instructions.
I installed the DX-LB+ in a truly strange inverted V configuration. (Due to my “city lot” it is hanged active arm horizontally NNE-SSW at 25 feet, some 6 feet below my roof line, on one side of my house and grounded arm sloping down 60 degrees and 120 degrees in vertical projection toward NS just to hit the corner of my lot). Trust me, it is weird: nothing short of miracle that it works at all. I run high quality RG8X into the shack.
Performance: with just this antenna and never exceeding 100 Watts I clocked 207 worked DXCC entities in 6 months, 209 in 7, 212 in 10 months aand then started reaching saturation and decided to move on to something with directivity and gain. My "lower bands" (160 - 40 meters) antenna is still DX-LB+ exclusively and I am pretty hasppy to be at my current (after 3 years): 41 worked (all continents) on 160 meters, 95 worked on 80 and 174 worked on 40 meters. It is really narrow on 160 and I am thinking about putting in a vertical for TX on this band, also it magically tunes either on the CW or on the SSB end of the 80 meters (but never on both at the same time). Yet, it is a perfect example of a "thingy" that fits the proverbial "if you don't have what you'd like, you have to like what you have". And I like it!
With it, I am able to get on the lower bands!
With the tuner, I have had no problems tuning any portions of any band (including WARC bands), with the exception of 160 meters. I am limited to the lower 40kHz of the 160 meters, even with the tuner.
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N2DTS
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Rating: 4/5
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Feb 4, 2009 19:18
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not bad
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I put one up today.
Its made ok, it could be made better, out of real antenna wire, but overall, its not bad.
After assembly, up at 45 feet, in a flat top (slight V due to weight), I get the following swr's...
1841 1.2-1
3824 1.2-1
7137 1.1-1
14000 1.5-1
21000 2.2-1
29.144 1.1-1
I need to shorten the antenna a bit to bring the swr within where I mostly operate. On 20 and 15, minimum swr is below the band limit.
SWR bandwidth on 160 is quite narrow, nothing you can do about that with such a short antenna, 80 meters is also somewhat narrow, the other bands are fine.
I took down the G5RV to put up the dx-lb-plus, so cant compare, but the dx-lb-plus seems quieter.
Its as good or better on 40 meters then the 40 meter dipole I have up.
The butternut verticle is about 6 or more db down on receive.
I can actualy hear signals on 160 now, even with such a short antenna, W1AW was 50 over!, and I was hearing stations all over the country.
On the G5RV, all I ever heard was static on 160.
Its very handy on receive to have an antenna you dont have to tune to listen, from 160 to 10 meters, it seems to work well as a receive antenna, I dislike tuners, so will try to get the minimum swr close to where I operate.
Brett
N2DTS
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DXSHORTWAVE
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 9, 2008 08:23
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Excellent, even for DX
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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At my set up, compared to the full size dipoles, all at about 40 ft., the DX-LB Plus is the same on 40 meters. No difference on the S-meter and reports from DX stations are the same. On 80 meters, it is less than about 1/2 of an S unit down and about the same on 160 meters. Great DX on those bands too. The DX-LB and dipoles are across about a one acre field and far enough to be de-coupled. If they were closer, and parallel, they would probably upset each other.
I don't use the monoband dipoles much anymore and they will probably come down before the leaves in springtime come back. Need to clean up the property.
The DX-LB Plus is highly recommended.
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W2MV
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Rating: 3/5
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Dec 9, 2008 07:23
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Excellent Construction, Poor Performance
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Compared to my full-sized 80 and 40 M dipoles, my reports with the DXLB+ are down one to two S units.
I'm not too surprised, especially on 80, considering the loading/short antenna. On 160, it's a real challenge to compete with other stations using a full-sized antenna. My power is 1 KW.
During the recent CQWW DX CW contest, I could not work any Pacific DX with the DXLB+ on 40M, but easily worked whatever I could hear with the full-sized dipole. The height for both is within a few feet of each other, not very high...about 30-40' up.
The construction is excellent, and I would keep it as an emergency backup, all-band antenna. It's the only 160M ant that will fit on my property, so I'm stuck with it, unless I want to go the open-wire feeder route.
I've had the antenna for 12 months+.
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