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Reviews For: Alpha Delta DX-B

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Alpha Delta DX-B
Reviews: 35MSRP: 69.95
Description:
160/80/40/30 Multiband Quarter Wave Sloper
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.alphadeltacom.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00353.9
W7KHZ Rating: 2003-08-29
False advertising / documentation Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased this antenna a few years ago and have moved a couple of times. I keep trying to put this antenna up and give it another chance, hoping that I was doing something wrong each time. This antenna does not work as advertised. A single piece of wire out performs it with a tuner by several yards(dB). A 40 meter sloping, inverted V, etc. dipole fed with ladder line and a tuner loads better and easier than this thing. On any band! The instructions call for "optional" downlead and "optional" ground. In order to get this thing close to a load you better have both options and an ocean nearby, if you do not have a 1/4 wave tower for the band you want to use. These guys need to read up on why both sides of the antenna are best to have, and not ignore a good solid ground. Hey Alpha! I appreciated the learning experiance on basic wire antenna construction. Without this thing, I would not have read so much about trying to fix something I wasted money on. Of course I also could have bought a Yugo and had as much fun.
KG6ZZZ Rating: 2002-07-22
Gud for limited space Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
This is a great antenna for limited space. It's not a full size for 160meters, but it will work there and can be adjusted for low SWR even on 160 but not much bandwidth of course. It needs a beam above it for a capacity hat and a good tower/mast connection for the other half of the antenna. Previous comments that it is a great antenna for what it is, is correct.
AC0X Rating: 2000-08-29
Works OK for what it is Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
As long as you understand what the antenna is, it works pretty well. If you have room for a full length G5RV or dipole at proper height, do yourself a favor and put that up instead. But for those who don't, the DX-B is a pretty good compromise. Just remember that the antenna is a half-sloper and you need to follow the "rules" for installing a half sloper of any sort. Make sure you mount it on a WELL GROUNDED tower with ELECTRICAL CONTINUITY from TOP TO BOTTOM. Make sure you have a beam antenna on top of the tower for top loading. Make sure the low end of the sloper is at least 8' off the ground. Remember also that as in any sloper, it's the VERTICAL ELEMENT (the tower) that should be the primary radiator. Make sure it's in the clear, and some ground radials around it help some, too. Follow these rules and it's not a bad antenna for those of us who have the limited space. I have mine with high end at 40' and low end at 10' on a 50'tower with a 8 element LPDA on top. It tunes across the whole 40 and 30 meter bands, and has a small <100KHz bandwidth on 80 (hey, it's a trapped/short multiband wire, so you can't expect more than that). With my 100 watts (in the electrically noisy summer), I can say I'm satisfied with it's performance. I get decent reports from people I contact, and performance seems simmilar to my Butternut HF9V on the low bands. You just have to understand *how* to mount it and *what* it is.
W8AD Rating: 2000-08-16
Great Low Band DX Antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This posting is for informational purposes on sloper antennas and the DX-B in particular. I have had my sloper up for over 10 years and it's the best low band DX antenna I've ever used. I've worked over 100 countries on 160 over a several year period and it's great. Its apex is about 48 feet on a crank-up tower with a triband beam 8 feet above and a down lead wire to ground. Any sloper has its own installation requirements, like any any antenna, for proper SWR and operation. If not adhered to, they will not work. They are: 1. The sloper should be mounted on a tower with a beam on top to act as a capacity hat. 2. The tower should be free of guys or other wire antennas. 3. A proper ground return path should be provided. 4. The sloper wire should not be close to gutters or roof tops. These details are on the Alpha Delta Web site at www.alphadeltacom.com There are thousands of DX-B and DX-A slopers out there doing a great job. BUT--they must be installed correctly to work properly. The inductors are an integral part of the design and provide multi-band operation
K2OWR Rating: 2000-08-15
Is this a joke? Time Owned: more than 12 months.
When I first bought this, my friend took one look at it and said "take out those coil thingys and connect all that wire together, then maybe it will work"....he was dead right. This thing is the worst ripoff I've ever seen. Especially if you believe the claims for operating it on 160. I tried it every way suggested and couldn't get it to load anywhere reasonably. Perhaps a tuner might help, but then what's the point?