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| Reviews Summary for AS-AYL-4 the True K9AY DX antenna with optional Wire/Mast Kit |
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Reviews: 8
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Average rating: 4.9/5
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MSRP: $250
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Description: K9AY Loop Low bands 4 direction recieve antenna for DXing. Includes relay switching box, adjustable terminations, High performance pre-amp with BCB and SW filters, as well as a mast and wire kit built to military standards, small footprint too. Hear what your missing on the low bands including DXing in the MW and LW bands. Works on 40 and 20m with preamp switch turned off.
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More info: http://www.arraysolutions.com
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You can
write your own review of the AS-AYL-4 the True K9AY DX antenna with optional Wire/Mast Kit.
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KO4NX
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 8, 2008 17:09
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Great Top Band RX Antenna for Limited Space!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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After coming to the conclusion that a Beverage Array was out of the question due to the size of my lot; I decided to try the K9AY loop. I must admit that I was skeptical, and doubted this array could receive any better than my 160m 60' top loaded vertical, or 80m full wave Delta Loop. After the installation, I started testing the array and found that I could null out two stations, transmitting on the same frequency, in the AM broadcast band. For the test I chose a station in the Caribbean, and another on the NW coast of the Unites States (on the same frequency). When I switched from the SE wire to NW wire, I was able to completely eliminate all traces of the Caribbean station, and had excellent copy of the pacific station.
In the first six months of owning this antenna I managed to work all 50 States and 60 Countries. My Contest Scores on 160 meters have improved dramatically - What else can I say!!!
73
Rich, AJ3G
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K8RA
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 2, 2008 08:16
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It really works !!!!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Well I completed my k9ay loop and I am very impressed. It is about 350 feet from my transmit antenna out in the front yard hidden in a
wooded area at the side of my lot. I went in there with a set of clippers and a chain saw and cleared an area. I made my own loop using a 25 foot fiberglass pole but bought the Array Solutions boxes. I have an 8 foot ground rod and layed eight 20 foot radials equally spaced. I have my control cable and coax laying on the
ground up to the antenna. It runs through the woods so it is not easily buried. By the way, I am using a 70 foot aluminum tower that
is insulated at the base and I use an L-tuning network at the base. I have 3 fixed settings on 160 and two on 80 to get the entire band
under 2:1 across the band. I can select the L-networks from inside. I also have near 10,000 feet of radial wire in the ground. It is a
great transmit antenna but very noisy on receive (as one would expect). You can see it on my web page ( http://www.k8ra.com ).
Now for the results. After listening extensively for two weeks, I am very impressed. The signal strengths are comparable between the k9ay
with the 15 db preamp and the vertical. But the k9ay definitely has a lower noise figure. It averages from 2 to 3 s-units. And the rear null is next to amazing. It varies on the station distance and time of day but I almost always see a null in the rear averaging anywhere from 3 to 6 s-units (seriously...it is amazing). It works great on 80 and 160. I sent a poor quality video to Jay at Array Solutions showing him my results and he put it on the Array Solutions Web Page. Take a look at it. Tonight on 80 I have been comparing the vertical to the loop and 90% to the time the loop is equal or better on receive. It clearly has a better S/N figure than my vertical. Of course this winter will tell the tale better but as of now, it was an effort well worth it.
I am sure it is not as good as a set of beverages but if you have limited space, it sure looks good to me at this point.
de k8ra Jerry www.k8ra.com
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NN4ZZ
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 27, 2007 10:05
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Great addition for low bands
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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The K9AY loop is now a must have for me on the low bands. (wish I had tried one sooner!) Everything in the package works as advertised and was easy to setup.
There are reports from some folks that radials may help (in some cases) and that disconnecting the coax shield from the antenna ground may help (in some cases). I modifed my installation and added toggle switches so I could try various combinations.
Pix of my setup and test results at:
www.nn4zz.com
73...Al
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N1DZ
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Rating: 4/5
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Nov 18, 2007 21:45
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Works Great
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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The K9AY RX loop antenna works great and I rate it a 5. Very good front to back >30dB. I use a ground system with 12 radials. This made a huge difference in performance.
However this review is about the Array Solutions outdoors and indoors switching unit. The units are well built.For most modern receivers the preamp is not needed. I rate it an overal 4.
Improvements needed to make the array solutions switching box a 5.
-Make the output connector a PL259 instead of the phono plug
-Supply a DC cable
-Add a relay to disconnect the loop from the receiver on transmit
-The manual comes w/o schematics
If you are lazy and do not want to built the K9AY unit yourself this is the way to go.
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WD8PKF
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 14, 2007 18:27
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Ecellent Product
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I wish to tank Jay for having a great product out for Low Band receiving. I found the system was fairly easy to put up. I am running it with 4 radials. I would suggest having a male help with the installation...as I don't think my wife could have supported the nearly completed mast. Some of the measurements had to to be slightly adjusted, but the final result was beyond belief. We have an AM station with in 15 miles of my qth, and we are able to null it out! I am seeing at least a 30db front to back. The most important fact is that I am hearing many weak stations on 160 that could not hear with my "L" . I think the product is well worth its cost and recommend it to any one who is considering a K9AY type of array.
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W2IRT
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 28, 2007 09:13
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Makes 160 a joy!
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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From my quarter-acre lot in the crowded suburbs of New Jersey (25 miles from NYC) I constantly experience S9 to 10-over QRN on 160 using an inverted L and a low inverted vee. After much researching of the K9AY loop arrangement I eagerly awaited the release of the AYL-4 implementation of the design by Array Solutions.
In a word...WOW! What this system is capable of doing for Signal to Noise defies belief!
I'll say up front that you will certainly see a drop in signal level compared to your resonant transmit antenna -- this is by design -- but the noise will drop down to almost nothing, bringing the readability of the received signal up drastically.
Due to extremely bad (i.e. rocky) soil in my neighbourhood getting the required good ground was difficult and because my tower is about 35 feet away, I was not able to achieve the hoped-for 30dB front to back null. It is more like 12-15 dB (around 2 S-units, maybe a little more). If you have good soil and can go out further from your tower, you should easily see a 30dB null off the back.
There are about 30 AM broadcasters within 20 miles of me, and I can either null out or significantly attenuate all those that are running 10kW or less when the array is directed away from them. There's a 5kW station only 1.4 miles from me that's normally 30-over on my L. Down to S9 pointed at them on the K9AY, and pointed away, they're GONE...no trace of them whatsoever.
Last night I was on 160 for the first time since getting the AYL-4 working. Atmospheric noise was a constant S9+5 with static crashes beyond that. I saw a few spots, the most distant being CX5BW. I could make his signal out through the noise using my L, but with great difficulty and I would have had a hard time working him. Flipping over to the AYL-4, the noise dropped off the scale and Pedro's signal was rock-solid and easy to work. One quick call with 200W and he was in the log, too....no repeats due to QRN/QSB, etc.
I must say on 80 it wasn't quite as good, but still helped a bit in receiving some European stations through the noise. I found that the QRN only dropped a couple of S-units on 80, as opposed to going right down to nothing on 160, but to be honest, I'd prefer the best performance on 160 anyway!
In short, If you can't put up an array of Beverages, this is the next best thing.
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W6XR
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 30, 2007 16:23
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Wow!
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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The wx. here in Upstate NY had prevented me from installing my new Array Solutions AS-AYL-4 rx only directional system for quite a while. This product is the K9AY Pennant design, of which I’m very familiar, along with some Array Solutions technology to facilitate both electronic switching of direction, adding preamplification and maximizing front to back.
I chose to purchase the complete kit which is provided sans the needed ground rod RF and control cables. All pre-measured wires, fiberglass poles and nifty attachment devices are included. On our recent warm day (probably summer for us in Upstate NY) my wife Nancy and I installed the array following the provided instructions in about two hours including driving the 8’ ground rod and installing the control cable and coaxial cable too. This array does NOT take up much real estate and was perfect for my small back yard. Following the instructions, I maximized f/b using a broadcast station nearby and the array was ready.
I’ve had the perspective of driving really good Beverage arrays at W2PV and at my own recent station and it’s my opinion the AS-AYL-4 holds its own when compared to what I’ve used in the past. The signals arriving at a high angle are attenuated by 20 to 30 dB., while those arriving at low angles are not! The control box contains a 10 to 15 dB. preamplifier as well as bandpass filters making the array work quite well on 160, 80 and 40 without the preamp. You simply dial in the proper direction and you have attenuated the stateside signals while maintaining the amplitude of the DX station. It works very well on 160 and signals not readable on my temporary inverted V are S5 or more on the array.
Perhaps a beverage array is as good as this product but if you only have a small back yard to work with, you’ll never know. Give yourself a gift and order one of these and have it in place for the next low band DX season. You won’t be disappointed as long as you follow directions! FAQ’s, and instructions are also available at the Array Solutions web site.
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WR5RR
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 29, 2007 21:30
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Good Low Band Performer
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I have been struggling along on 160 with a loaded inverted vee, and recently an inverted L. The L really gave me a good transmit signal, but also gave me lots of noise. I listened to others describing a K9AY loop. Google gave me lots of hits, and different schemes for the hardware and controls. I got the wire part of the antenna up, and learned that ARRAY Solutions was working on a control system for the antenna. ARRAY Solutions has a very good reputation for good equipment, and good help. I ordered the ARRAY Solutions Model AS-AYL-4 four way K9AY Loop System. No problem to install the system, I had already got the feed line, and control line installed, so it was mostly plug and play. Both the relay box and control box are built with very nice printed circuit boards. The support from Jay, WX0B, ARRAY Solutions owner, is very good and he answers questions in a timely manner.
How does it all work, great! While learning how to use the system I listened below the AM broadcast band to NDBs. I could readily check bearings as the NDBs send a cw identifier. You can look this up for location on Google and verify the antenna system is receiving in the selected direction.
Now 160 is much more fun to work. The control box has a very good preamp, 15 db, for 160, and 80 meters. Below 160, and above 80 it has very sharp rejection. It does work very well on 40 meters, just be sure to turn the preamp off.
Thanks to ARRAY Solutions for another very fine product. My wife even commented on the quieter signals on 160. She says “Now You’ll Be A Big Dog On 160”! Maybe not a big dog, but a happy camper I am.
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