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write your own review of the WX0B Six Pack.
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K4FX
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 11, 2011 08:16
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Excellent
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Although most people think of the Six Pack as something for contest use, this is not entirely true. Anyone who has 2 HF rigs could benefit from this excellent switch. Although it is not cheap, it is very high quality. It can be tower mounted to help offset some of the cost in savings from less coax. It is impossible to put 2 radios on the same antenna. The unit will also work with about all of the band decoders making for fully automatic control. This is the Cadillac of antenna switches.
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N1TX
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Rating: 4/5
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Apr 9, 2011 19:44
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Super for the antenna farm
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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We've had the SixPak in service at the KL2R shack for almost five years. We have fix-mounted antennas on a 140' tower for multi-two and SO2R operation. The switch is mounted at the base of the tower about 150' away from the shack, and the manual controller sits next to the "master" operating position. It has performed very well from -50F to +90F.
I would rate it a 5 except for the following. The switch is not exactly weatherproof. There are some small gaps at corners, which can be daubed with silicone or other sealant to keep out water. I chose to put a plastic lid on it and secure with cable ties to permit the interior of the box to breathe and avoid condensation inside. Also, the relays, when not exercised for a long period of time can become sticky. It's also a good idea to keep the controller switch contacts from oxidizing by changing positions once in a while.
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WI2E
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 6, 2009 09:44
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Excellent in all dimensions
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I have the 6x2 SixPak and have now used it extensively during two 24 hour contests. Especially for SO2R operators, this switch is a joy to use.
From a user perspective, I almost cannot believe how easy it is to connect either of my radios to any of my antennas. Furthermore, the SixPak offers extremely high isolation between the radios and among the antennas, and its lock out feature (whichever rig is on the selected antenna first keeps it if the second rig is put on the same antenna) really gives me peace of mind that I'm not going to make a bad mistake when I get tired late in an event.
In terms of assembly, it took me less than an hour to go from taking it out the box to having it installed in the shack. The SixPak has high quality parts and construction, which makes the small amount of work required to wire the switch a breeze.
Obviously, I can't comment on the product's long-term reliability as it's a relatively recent arrival here, but I think the other reviews on this site speak to that issue quite well. There is also a copy of K5ZD's NCJ review of the SixPak available on the Array Solutions website. It's a must read for anyone considering this product, and the experience described there completely reflects what I've had so far.
Overall, this is a great product. I really couldn't be happier with the purchase.
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DL8OBF
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Rating: 4/5
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Mar 23, 2009 06:36
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Electrical performance as described
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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First of all: This box works and shows the electrical performance levels as described ... also confirmed by others here in the forum.
I have not done any measurements, but never had problems with attenuation or isolation levels. Also I have not experienced any problems with typical "legal limit" power levels.
Now, why am I giving only a "4"? This is because at this pricetag I would have expected:
- A scratch- and water resistant housing. (I am not living in southern california and it sometimes rains in this geo :-()
- A housing, which you do not need to dismantle to get to the PCB.
- Proper brackets to easy mount and remove from tower.
- Connectors/sockets to easily connect to the control unit
So overall, mechanically there are a few things which can be improved. Electrically I have nothing to moan about. If you can live with these "mechanical weakpoints", then it is definitely a "strong buy". If you can not live with that, then you are anyway in bad shape as I think there is nothing compareable on the market :-(. So you would need to build such a box on your own!
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W2RE
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 11, 2009 18:13
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Bullet proof!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have owned this for several years now and its bullet proof! Highly recommend for SO2R!
Ray W2RE
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KG6AOH
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 14, 2009 16:16
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Built well and works well
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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First, let me tell you that I work in the radio and TV industry as an engineer, and I have no patience for sub-standard ham quality junk. I have absolutely no tolerance for anything that is not built to commercial broadcast standards. As you can imagine, it is tough to find products that meet my expectations when it comes to amateur radio suppliers.
In the shack, I spend most of my time shortwave listening. Occasionally, I will QSO on HF, but it is rare. Either way, my most used radio is a Kenwood and the most sensitive is an R-390A receiver. Sometimes, the Kenwood just doesn't cut it, and the 390A is used to grab those tough ones.
There are many antennas here, my QTH is sometimes called 'VOA of the West' by guests. All professional quality wire antennas, designed to receive the smallest signals on the SW bands. Everything from a huge curtain array to a simple inverted L. It was always an effort trying to manage the antennas with switches and coaxes to the receivers, and still keep the transceiver from accidentally being fed into the R-390A receiver via bone-headed move. So, some antennas could be accessed on one radio and other antennas on the other. It wasn't that great.
Then, I conversed with Jay at Array Solutions via email, and was told about the Six Pak switch. Sounded really neat, but not quite exactly what I wanted. As the switch comes, it is capable of allowing more than one antenna to be connected to the same radio at the same time, but the Array Solutions Six Pak controller does not (one antenna at a time only). Jay suggested buying the switch, then sent the schematic so I could see how it works and build my own controller to get the switch to do exactly what I wanted it to do. The Six Pak arrived in a couple of days, and my first impression was how nicely it is done. My only complaint is the totally gay color of the case. A few minutes with masking tape and a quick shot of spray paint fixed that.
The circuit board is nicely done, and it is apparent that the relays are custom built for WX0B. These are not off-the-shelf relays. The gold plated contacts were bright and shiny, and there was no resistance from antenna jack to radio jack on any of the switched-in relays.
Some here have complained that relays needed tension adjustments, etc. Mine did not. As tested, it does take a full 12 volts to pull them in when cold, and they stay in with as little as 6 volts, no problem. But if you use a wimpy power supply with sag to actuate them (like a wall-wart), then you will have problems. I am running mine off of the shack power supply, a rackmount 35 amp Astron. No problems.
I designed and built a custom control panel using a 1 RU rack panel and 12 illuminated push button switches. The switches have clear covers so that I could put the antenna labels on them and when the switch is on, the antenna name is illuminated behind the button, very intuitive to use no matter how tired the op may be. Also, my controller allows the Six Pak to connect more than one antenna to the same radio at the same time. I can connect all 6 antennas to the same radio at the same time, if that is the desire. The panel was wired in such a way that the same antenna cannot be connected to more than one radio at the same time. Although the Six Pak has this safety feature built-in, I felt it was worth repeating at the controller level as well.
The radios are in the shack, in the house. LMR-400 cables form the two radios along with a shielded Belden 15-wire control cable leave the shack through a wall plate, go underground (in conduit) to a communications vault at the base of the main tower. All the antennas terminate in this vault. Some are open wire fed, some coax. All open wire antennas become coax using DX Engineering baluns. Then, LMR-400 or 1/2 inch Heliax cables connect to the Six Pak. The Six Pak itself is affixed to a 4RU rack plate and mounted at the top of one of the equipment racks. The 15-wire control cable is connected using 66 style punch blocks and a DB15 connector at the Six Pak.
In testing, I found the Six Pak to offer about 60 dB of isolation from any port to any receiver port. As frequency goes up, isolation goes down a little. In some bands, I see isolation as high as 70 dB. Impedance through the Six Pak... Well, we'll just say you don't want to use it for UHF. On the low HF bands, it is fairly transparent. On the higher HF bands (like 10m) there is a noticeable bump on the TDR. However, the overall loss or resistance of the Six Pak is very negligible.
On the air, it is really nice to be able to select any combination of my six favorite antennas at any time. This is helpful when there is a lot of QSB. Selecting vertical and horizontal antennas at the same time really eliminates a lot of the deep fades.
The most power I have run through the switch is about 1000 watts (carrier). No heat build up or arcing was noticed. Also, the relays can be left engaged for hours upon hours at a time without burning up. A neat safety feature of this is that when you power down the shack, the switch powers down too and your radios are disconnected from the antennas. Although I always HIGHLY suggest the use of Polyphasers for your coaxes and proper implementation of them, I know most hams won't. So, it is a little insurance policy to have the Six Pak disconnect your wires for you when you are done.
All in all, the Six Pak is a unique product that not all hams really need, but for some of us, it is invaluable. After having this installed and operational for a couple months, there is NO WAY that I could ever go back to the bundles of cables and switches in the shack, ever! The WX0B Six Pak switch saved my sanity, and made playing with radios a lot more fun.
I sent Jay a picture of my shack with the custom controller installed, might be available on the Array Solutions website by the time you read this.
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K7PEH
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 26, 2009 08:37
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SixPak is a Keeper
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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I debated on rating this switch as a 4 or a 5. I was reluctant to give it a 5 because I did have to fiddle a bit with the tension of the relays because a few of them stuck. But, who can complain about the great service and attention giving by Jay who responds to e-mail promptly and who spends time with you to resolve all problems.
So, I rated this switch as a 5 for two reasons. One, it is a "Great" switch and that is what the 5 rating means. But, more importantly, Jay is a great vendor and very patient with those who need help.
Since about September when I "worked out the gremlins" from this switch it has performed flawless. I use it to switch two rigs between three antennas and a dummy load.
I searched for about a year to buy the kind of switch that meets my needs. I did not want a bunch of cables strung up on my desktop where I like to have an easily accessible switch control. So, the remote cable box was a definite requirement. There were a number of solutions for this requirement but in the end I chose to buy rather then build which was fast becoming my only alternative.
This switch is money well spent and I am certain it is the last switch that I will need until I run out of cable connections which is not likely in the foreseeable future. By the way, I did price out the components to build my own version of something like this switch and I couldn't even come close to Jay's price besides matching the nice finishing touches of a more professional and practiced design and construction.
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ZR4RV
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 5, 2008 09:12
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Great Ant Switch
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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Mine is a year old now and is very happy with the antenna switch. After some small tention problems with the relays and the GREAT support of Jay its working 100%.
Keep it up Jay
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K8IA
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Rating: 4/5
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Mar 17, 2008 15:39
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Well designed and built
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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Really slick switching matrix. I have two controllers with mine, as it is confgured between two stations separated by about eight feet. Allows each station to access the full complement of antennas. Really a time saver and good peace of mind with its "first in captures" design.
My rating would have been a "5" but two of the relays required spring tension adjusting right out of the box. 13 volts on the relay buss did not allow those two to pull in properly. The other 10 were ok.
Fortunately, a online document (AS website) titled "Testing a Six-Pack" addressed this problem. Nevertheless, this should have been shipped correct and it wasnt.
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VE3YF
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 18, 2007 03:32
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Excellent Coax Switch
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I have been thinking of purchasing this switch for quite some time and glad I took the plunge. The Six Pak is a ruggedly built antenna switch that allows my radios to share a common set of antennas. Being able to use any antenna on either of my radios adds a lot of flexibility to my station. Very solidly built and after almost 3 months of operation not one flaw. Welcome addition to any shack.
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