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Reviews For: B&W BWD 1.8 - 30 Broadband Folded Dipole

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : B&W BWD 1.8 - 30 Broadband Folded Dipole
Reviews: 78MSRP: 200
Description:
Folded dipole antenna for 10 to 160 meters - 90 feet in length, #14 copper clad steel wire.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.bwantennas.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
14783.6
K3ICH Rating: 2007-02-10
Slightly better than an 8 foot whip Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This antenna may have had some practical application 30 years ago when antenna tuners were all manual. Now days, with the auto-tuners etc, there's no value in this "antenna". I use the quotes, because this is basically a resistively terminated length of balanced transmission line that has been stretched out in the shape of a dipole. The feed balun (6:1, I think) matches the impedance of the line and the resistor terminates it. It does apparently manage to radiate a little RF and of course, is a good match for 50 Ohms. To me this doesn't qualify to be called an "antenna". As stated earlier, it's more of a radiating dummy load.

Back in the 70's, I had one of these installed on a commercial roof top in Gaithersburg MD along with a random length 100 foot dipole which required a tuner just about anywhere we wanted to use it. The non resonant dipole was typically 1 to 2 S units better in any direction, on any band, than the B&W.

It was only up for a little over a year, then we moved, so no long term durability data is available. It worked consistantly poorly the entire time we had it up.

It was used primarliy on the marine SITOR bands around 8 and 12 MHz as well as some HAM use.

For what it currently sells for, there are much better alternatives available than the B&W.

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Earlier 3-star review posted by K3ICH on 2004-12-21

This antenna is basically a terminated, balanced transmission line that has been stretched horizontally in the form of a folded dipole. The matching device that you connect your coax to is a 6:1 balun, and the other cylinder at the "top" is a 600 OHM resistor. How else would you describe it? Curiously, it does work somewhat. Even a 50 Ohm resistor with dipole wires attached will radiate a little (ala the Max-Comm ?? or something like that). I had a the B&W up for a year or so at a testing facility where we operated on the ham bands and all the marine SITOR freqs as well and it typically was one or two S units down from a full size dipole, but remember, this antenna design dates from a time when auto tuners etc. were yet available. It was quite popular with embassies and other commercial installations where the communications equipment may be operated by less than technical people and broad frequency coverage was necessary. For that purpose, it works OK and rates a "five". Correctly, for ham use it's near "zero". Now days, with all the fancy radios we have, it is not a pratical antenna to use. 45 feet of wire with an external auto-tuner will outperform it just about every time AND, it's NOT a cheap antenna either.
FORMER_W5HSJ Rating: 2007-02-10
Can be greatly improved Time Owned: more than 12 months.
As purchased this antenna seemed very susceptible to noise and signals seemed weak. Signals received on my Hex beam were stronger on 160 and 80 meters and the Hex beam, of course, is for 20m and up. I increased the length to 180 feet and find it to be much improved especially on 80 meters. If I were the manufacturer I would not offer the shortened version. At 180 feet long it works very very well. I have the center hanging from a pole extending 8 feet out from my 50 foot Rohn 25 tower. The ends slope down to about 15 feet off the ground.
N3EAQ Rating: 2007-02-10
Don't waste your time and signal Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I had one of these up for about 3 years. Used legal limit on it, and fried the "Terminating Resistor". Yeah it's flat across all frequencies, but then so it my oil can dummy load. Recieved signals are weak. Most of the transmitted energy gets sucked up by the resistor. While well constructed, sturdy, and simple to set-up, it just is not worth the $$ or effort if you can't hear, or get a decent signal out.

I replaced it with an Alpha Delta DX-CC, and finally a DX-LB+ for 10 to 160 coverage, and it's like night and day!! Save your $$$, buy the Alpha Delta DX-LB+ instead!!!
KN7T Rating: 2006-11-08
Decent Compromise Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I've had mixed results with my BWD-90. It's installed as an inverted vee with the center at 40 feet and the ends at about 12 feet AGL. This antenna's forte is local area communications but I wouldn't recommend it if you're a DX chaser. Received signal performance is not as good as a standard dipole - I used double bazookas in the past and they performed much better on receive. I suspect part of my performance issues have to do with the overall height of the antenna so I'm not giving up on it. I have made many contacts with it as installed so it does work. The next thing to do is to try and get the ends up higher so that the angle between the antenna legs is somewhere between 135 and 150 degrees.

When I first installed the antenna, one half of it managed to unwind itself off of the cardboard shipping roll - oops. I spent nearly an hour untangling the resultant mess - do yourself a favor and have a buddy help you unroll the antenna when you install it and you'll avoid this problem. The antenna's construction and materials are top quality which is something I've come to expect from B&W over the years. I highly recommend the optional mounting kit even though it is a bit on the expensive side for what it is. It will save you some aggravation.

Mine is used with a tuner (rig tuner) and there's no trouble at all obtaining a 1:1 match except on 160 meters but I again attribute that to the low height of the antenna. The best match I can get so far on 160 meters is about 1.2:1 so it isn't an issue.
KE7GWY Rating: 2006-04-28
Excellent Antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
After reading some of the negative reviews, I was a little skeptical about this antenna, especially the comments that the termination resistor would consume much of the radiated power. I followed the installation instruction exactly, and was careful not to unwind the antenna prematurely. I installed this antenna as an inverted "V" on my roof. The center is up about 38 feet and the ends are up about 20 feet.

My roof has a couple of other smaller antennas and long gutters. So I did not expect the SWR to be low and flat. And as expected, it is not. But no problem, I can easily tune it for very low SWR (under 1.5:1).

When I first connected it, compared to my modified vertical sloper dipole, I was pleasantly surprised that my noise flower dropped at least 6db and my signal to noise ratio improved at least that much. I thought well that’s great, but can I get out?

Running an ICOM IC-7000 around 100 watts here in Canby Oregon, I can honestly say that I can contact anyone I can hear (either SSB or CW). I usually get signal reports at least as good as or better than what I’m receiving. Since I installed it, I’ve had excellent QSLs ranging from Florida to Hawaii.

I highly recommend this antenna.

73’s Roger KE7GWY
W2MSK Rating: 2006-04-08
Not Recommended Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This antenna proves that a low SWR is not a "be all end all". Radiation is what matters! The antenna is passable in a pinch however it will not accept any strong transmitted signal. Keep the power low, under 250 watts and NEVER run high power carrier!. The construction is adequate for a wire dipole however it is expensive for what it is. Mine burned out in short order and has been hanging in the trees collecting branches and twigs. Loook elsewhere.
KQ4KK Rating: 2006-04-08
Better than a dummy load Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had one of these up for the last 8 years. Works OK on just about any frequency. Not GREAT, but works.

However, about three months ago it shorted out while I was running 1KW into it. That was the end of that antenna.

I put up a Carolina Windom 80 in its place... MUCH better! I was surprised.
K6IPC Rating: 2006-04-08
Nice Dummy Load Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I had mounted the antenna along the peak of the roof an inverted V, with the center 40 feet above the roof. This put the top of the V at 60 feet above ground and the ends were 20 feet from ground. I also had an inverted V trap antenna for 40 and 80 meters where the top of the V was only 45 feet from the ground and the ends were only 3 feet from the ground. The BWD was quieter then the traped V, but the signals were about 3 S units lower on 80 meters which is about a 9db loss.The reports on the other end where also about the same, running 100 watts. This antenna was flat as far as SWR, but so is a Dummy Load. I used this configeration for about a year and the results were always the same. If I still had it, I would like to try to remove the spreaders and try it as a loop or in a triangle configeration.
Richard
K6IPC
W5XE Rating: 2006-03-28
B&W 1.8-30 is actually the same as the old 3.5-30 Mhz overrated Time Owned: more than 12 months.
When I was trustee of the Army Mars station at
Ft Bliss, Tx, we ran thru several of those B&W
3.5-30 90 ft antennas. That was the rating and
I don't know why B&W changed the frequency rating
to the lower band. As someone has pointed out,
the power rating is not as it should be, we blew
the baluns and terminating resistors at 500 watts
RTTY, so a continuous carrier mode is death to
this antenna if it is over 3 or 400 watts. The
highest SWR range is in the upper 11-13 Mhz area
and below 2:1 on most of the other ranges.
Usable with a tuner. We also used them in the
agency I worked for, in jungle locations where
they were basically agent proof for tuning and
they worked pretty well with the 100 watt
suitcase stations where the rf from a vertical
would be absorbed by the foilage of the jungle
locations. Incidentally, the B&W 1.8-30 antenna
was originally the inverted V longwire with a
terminating resistor at the far end coupling the
counterpoise wire (necessary) to the antenna and
the counterpoise wire was connected to the radio
ground.
KR4K Rating: 2006-03-28
Works as advertised Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Have two - use for amateur and MARS. They work as advertised. Have't found anything that works better for the particular application.