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| Reviews Summary for B&W Broadband Dipole |
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You can
write your own review of the B&W Broadband Dipole.
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KE4EAO
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Rating: 4/5
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Jun 1, 2006 05:14
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Not bad.
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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A friend of mine and I were reading the reviews and decided to really give this antenna a workout (BWD-45). On 40, 20 and 17 meters, it out performed the G5RV hands down (at 100 watts). No tuner required and SWR was low. Down around 7.100 and lower the SWR moved up a bit but the tuner fixed that in seconds. We had better recieve and transmit all the way around versus a G5RV at the same height (35'). Now, I know that nothing beats a wire cut for frequency but, for a compromised antenna, it's the golden child most definately. If you have the room on your lot to farm antennas, don't even bother with this antenna. For small space and the need for a compromised antenna, this is the route to go. 73!
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W2MSK
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Rating: 2/5
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Jun 17, 2005 10:54
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Expensive and Mediocre
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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A $200 wire antenna that performs marginally. My antenna burned out from 500w SSB or so. Sure, the SWR is low but so is the performance.
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VA6SZ
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Rating: 4/5
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Apr 12, 2004 01:32
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Not a bad "loop"
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I've had mine about 2 years. I have it as a flat-top at 17 meters high. Not really meant as a gain antenna, but I have worked close to 200 countries on mine from 160m thru 10m. It does not work too well on the low bands (too low to the ground), but it is my primary listening antenna on 80m and 160m. The signal to noise ratio on the low bands is this antenna's strong point. I use a 105 foot vertical for transmitting and the B&W for my receiving antenna. So all in all, not a bad choice for a "do-it-all" antenna.
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WL7K
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Rating: 2/5
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Apr 12, 2004 00:08
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Good dummy load
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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It makes a fair emergency antenna with it's broad band capabilities. I got it to use as a 160M ant. in a limited space. It received fair but it was like loading your thumb om xmit.
Antenna was at about 50' and I was feeding with a Icom 746 feeding a IC-2KL 500W amp and a AT500 tuner.
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WB9JTK
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Rating: 4/5
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Dec 17, 2001 14:57
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Great for what it is
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Have been using the AC3.5-30 version for 8 years. This antenna works quite well on 40 through 10 meters. SWR was high on 10m some places I lived due to surrounding objects. Does not work quite as well as a full size dipole on 80. B U T no tuner needed, one coax, no worries, no coax switch to select antennas. I think it is the perfect field day antenna. I sure recommend this over ANY G5RV for convienience. Have worked all over the planet with it.
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N8COO
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 21, 2001 13:27
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Works fine as advertised
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I own a B&W BWD 2-25 which covers 1.8 to 25 MHz. (It looks the same as the 1.8-30 and I believe is the same length of 90 feet - the SWR is slightly above 2.0:1 on 10 meters.) I have it mounted in an inverted-vee configuration with the apex at 35 feet on top of a mastpipe and the ends about 12 feet above the ground on a city lot. I put it up myself (not advised) without difficulty - just be careful unrolling it. I have never worked DX on a dummy load, but I have worked DX with this antenna. Plus it is a good SWL antenna. Sure, it could be a considered a "compromise" since some of your power is going to be dissipated in the load, but it covers all the HF bands and seems to receive/radiate moderately well in most directions and frequencies, and that is the nature of this design. Obviously the gain is lower, the lower in frequency you get, but B&W doesn't hide this fact and mentions it in their material. From 80 on up I get about the same RSTs as what I receive.
I have a higher SWR, around 3.0 on 80 and 4.0 on 160 during the summer - when the leaves drop the SWR drops to 2-3:1. (40-12 are 2:1 or less ) Besides the trees around it, my house and the neighbors have a lot of aluminum siding, etc. So I'm certain it would meet the SWR specs if not for these influences.
Any multiband antennas are going to have compromises depending on what you want to do. For instance, I had a G5RV up at one time, which worked very well on 20 but was lousy on 30 and 80 as far as SWR and signal reports. My Hustler 4BTV with the 30 MTK vertical is sometimes louder, most noticeably on 20 (but it doesn't cover 160,17 &12 or the SWL frequencies)...
So this antenna isn't for everyone and may be a little pricey...(I think I paid $150.) but if you want at least one antenna around to "cover all the bases" in a smaller (90') space, I feel the B&W is a good choice.
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WD4NGB
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Rating: 1/5
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Apr 2, 2000 23:00
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High priced dummy load
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Time owned: unknown months
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One of my jobs in my 22 years in the US Army was installing HF antennas systems around
the world. We did use the B&W folded dipoles, but only to give us a fast temp setup with
wide frequency coverage. These antennas are fine for single hop HF, but worthless for DX.
The B&W dipoles are in the area of 2 db above a dummy load for anything other single hop
communications.
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W2ATO
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Rating: 0/5
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Apr 2, 2000 15:43
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B&W Broadband Dipole ModelsAC-5-30 and BWD-1.8-30
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Time owned: unknown months
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Been licensed 51 years. I and friends had this antenna. It is very poor excuse for an antenna. Dummy loads have l:l SWR (or close to it) over wide range of frequencies. Compared to the standard dipole it is "out to lunch".
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N3SKO
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 2, 2000 10:43
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Excellent No-tune antenna
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Time owned: unknown months
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Yes, I know that the guys on the Antenna newsgroups swear that they don't work. We'll ignore
the fact that the military have installed hundreds of them... I have installed five of them here at
my station to support regional HF operations (I operate a regional MARS gateway station).
These antennas are a dream for NVIS operation, mounted low to the ground. Just be careful to
support them in the middle - the balun and terminating resistor are pretty heavy. Mounted in
an Inverted V configuration, they do quite well - I have been using this config for medium-haul
Automatic Link Establishment nets with good results. The Inverted V config also solves the
problem of supporting the balun and resistor.
I am very pleased with this antenna. Is it as good as a full-sized dipole, cut to frequency? No.
But it permits tuner-less operation over a wide frequency range, and offers reasonably good
performance.
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