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Reviews For: Alpha Delta DX-CC

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Alpha Delta DX-CC
Reviews: 104MSRP: 119
Description:
82' No Trap 80 thru 10 Dipole.And it is great ALL bands. This includes 12, 17, and 30.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.alphadeltacom.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
151044.3
W9BBB Rating: 2016-10-17
this is a multi band dipole guys Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Put this dipole up and added a 1:1 balun on it. Remember people, This is a balance dipole. Nothing magic about it.Its works as good as a dipole should.Yes you need to prune this if you don't want to use a tuner but most rigs can tune within reason.A little prices, than you should be building your own.
W4CAS Rating: 2016-03-21
Works OK, but Overpriced! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Had this antenna up at a previous QTH for over three years and it seemed to work fairly well. I emphasise only fairly well, not great. I took it down for the move to the present QTH and has been stored ever since. I have since been using an end-fed 100' wire with an Icom AH-4 tuner for 80 and 40 m. with very good results. This was supposed to be a temporary antenna, but due to the unexpected good results on the random wire and laziness on my part, it's become a permanent fixture. I recently thought about putting the DX-CC back up, but didn't get enthused until I just read WB4TJH's review and modification using ladder line. What a great idea! I already have the ladder line and a 4:1 balun - I'll soon have a nice all-band antenna! And yes, the DX-CC is DEFINITELY overpriced for it's performance and quality!
W0PP Rating: 2016-03-20
not worth the money Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've owned mine for a number of years. I put it up, works all bands ok for a day then 80 meters will not match. Try again a couple of days later and it'll match a couple of times then back to not matching. I've had it up and down a number of times trying to find the problem but all connections look good. Not a coax issue since I've tried new runs with same results. I would not recommend the antenna to anyone at this point.
W6CAW Rating: 2015-11-28
5, really? Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I can only assume I bought a dud as a 5 is out of the question for this home made antenna. Seeing how it was constructed out of #12 house wire and magnet wire coils wound on PVC pipe I built one just like for almost nothing. The fancy ISO center insulator cracked in 3 years. I love their switches but their wire antennas are way over priced.

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Earlier 1-star review posted by W6CAW on 2014-09-18

First and last manufactured dipole I will ever buy. Center insulator cracked after 2 years. Very narrow band on frequencies using a coil. PVC pipe, open coils, magnet wire, and #12 house wire construction. Not impressed.
WB4TJH Rating: 2015-11-27
Made mine into an ALL bander Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I changed mine from an 80/40 meter duobander to an ALL bander by removing the coax center connector and installing a Ladder-Loc center connector for 450 ohm balanced feedline. It works VERY well with my Palstar manual tuner with built in 4:1 balun. Now I have an 80-6 meter, all band antenna. Try it.
W6GQR Rating: 2015-08-03
Bonus 60M Coverage Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have found recently that the DX-CC is even more versatile than advertised. Shorting out the 80M resonating inductors in the main (82') element transforms it into a full size, wide bandwidth, coax fed dipole for 60M.

In my installation, with alligator clip jumpers shorting out the inductors in each leg, the wire resonates at about 5450 KHz or a bit above the top CW channel of the 60M band. This is close enough, given the 400+ KHz bandwidth of the modified wire, to allow all five channels to be used with low SWR. Each installation will differ, but if the wire is found to resonate higher than mine did, resonance can easily be lowered by adding an (experimentally determined) short tuning stub to each end of the 82" element.

In my case, with the DX-CC installed in inverted-vee configuration as recommended by Alpha-Delta, the inductors are accessible with a short step-ladder making clipping and unclipping the jumpers a simple process.

AD5HD Rating: 2015-07-07
Amazing Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Installed at about 30-32ft high as an inverted vee with the ends at eight feet and spanning a roughly 80ft distance between end points where the dacron rope is attached. Not exactly the easiest thing to assemble but once I figured out how to use radial staples to hold the wires in location as the spacers were placed and the wire pieces were wound on to fix their locations, assembly was much faster. Once in the air it was fairly easy to tune the 80m end lengths to 75m by looping back and winding the wire on itself. Used a current balun from DXE at the base but grounding it makes the CIA-HF read a very noisy signal but lifting the ground connection from the balun to the ground rod eliminates it. The mfg suggests a balun is unnecessary but it doesn't seem like a good idea. Regardless it works with it inline, grounded or not. VSWR is low across the bands as claimed with the exception of 80m, also as claimed. No issues, no surprises. This antenna is built like a freakin tank, too. Never thought spending good money for a wire antenna would be a smart thing to do but after fighting G5RV Jr designs and other assorted wastes of time it's a steal at twice the price as far as I'm concerned. At 500W PEP on 20m it boomed into the Bahamas from North TX during a winter afternoon and received just as clearly. Never have had a problem using it on 15m either although I don't work 12m or 10m so no observations there. It's a well engineered antenna that will perform exactly as claimed if installed as described in the instructions.
K2II Rating: 2015-05-25
Can you say "compromise?" Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
DX-CC stands for COMPROMISE - CONCESSION.
Before I purchased the DX-CC, I read the reviews which swayed me to spend $160. for a pile of wires.
After two months of battling with this antenna, I have decided the DX-CC is a miserable concession and the claims are dubious.
The major problem is the remarkable narrow bandwidth of 15, 20, 40 and 80. There is perhaps not even 100Kc of bandwidth which includes 3:1 SWR. 80 meters is the worst with only about 50 Kc of bandwidth. The lowest SWR I can obtain at one very tight frequency of 15KC or so is 1.7:1. Then SWR very rapidly SOARS to unusable levels.
I have the antenna in a 90 degree 'V' configuration with the center 35' high.

If you buy this wire antenna, you better also buy an antenna tuner as well. Otherwise, the Alpha Delta is a frustrating almost useless contraption.
N0FPE Rating: 2015-02-21
work fine on my lot Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have a medium size city lot and this antenna fits just fine running corner to corner of the back yard. It is run flattop from my tower to the far back corner where there is a 30ft mast. works WAY WAY WAY better than the slinky dipole I had up for a few years. I have had the DX-CC up for 5 years now and it has not suffered any cracking of damage from the extreme heat here in AZ. I took it down last fall can checked all the connections and coils..and right back up it went. I have to give it a A+ in my application..

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Earlier 5-star review posted by N0FPE on 2012-12-02

I have had this antenna up for abt 4 years now. It is flat top at abt 30ft. it works worlds better than any other multiband wire I had up before. I have used a G5RV which I found to be equally bad on all bands. I also gave a slinky dipole a try and was not at all happy with the preformance. I switched to the DX-CC in the same location as all the other antennas and the bands opened up!! I am a happy camper and if I can hear them I can work them!

Dan/NØFPE

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Earlier 5-star review posted by N0FPE on 2011-07-10

I have mine up as a flat top dipole at 30ft. It works great. way way better than the slinky dipole it replaced. Tunes all bands 80-6 with the internal tuner in the 756proII. with no way to put up a bean this is abt as good as it gets for me. I do not run an amp. And if I can hear them I can work them even in the pileups.
It works for me!! YMMV
N4ZBO Rating: 2015-02-21
Not for city lots Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I Hate to bash this antenna as i have heard many of them in use on the air. that was what made me buy this one....
How ever. they have many limitations in a tight city lot. So if you have a bunch of open room with no trees on shades or an r/v in the back yard or even a very large place to use it....
As this antenna was made for wide open spaces i beleave that it needs a redo to fit in a small space in mind with the average back yard that more than have a shed or two in it....... i hope to sale to recover some of my money back out of it... such a disappointment well guess not antennas work every where just wish i would have found that out first.. the adds sure don't say much.....