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Reviews For: Radiowavz 10 METER DOUBLE BAZOOKA DIPOLE

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Radiowavz 10 METER DOUBLE BAZOOKA DIPOLE
Reviews: 3MSRP: 29.95
Description:
RadioWavz Double Bazooka
Advantages:
Broad bandwidth
Almost unaffected by environment
Positive gain with reference to a common dipole operating
under the same relative conditions up to 3.6 db
Greatly attenuates harmonics(almost eliminates
interference!!!
Substantial decrease in static charge build-up
Non-directional. (as a inverted V)
Great for DX!!!
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.radiowavz.com/html/double_bazooka.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0034.7
AC6EG Rating: 2024-03-20
Poor Construction but Also Works on 12-Meters Time Owned: more than 12 months.
In May of 2012 I bought a "standard" RadioWavz DBZ10 for about $40. This was a 10 meter Double Bazooka constructed of RG6 coax with a power rating of 1500 watts PEP. I liked it so well I bought a DBZ20 and took advantage of their very generous "buy two & get one free" offer to also get a DBZ15. These are very broad band antennas and easily cover entire ham bands with low SWR. I installed mine on top of a 1" PVC mast in an inverted V configuration which made them Omni directional. The PVC Tee fitting in the middle of the antenna fit perfectly inside a 1” coupling on top of my 1" PVC mast which kept the feed-line connection dry and minimized the strain on the antenna. After about a year of exposure to the weather I found my SWR began to jump around erratically. When I cut open the shrink wrap at the ends of the coax I found out why. At each end of a bazooka the coax shield, the coax center conductor and the copper extension wire must be connected together. I found the copper conductors had been soldered together at the end of the coax but the connection to the aluminum shield was made by simply wrapping the end of the stranded copper extension wire around the RG6 shield. You can't solder copper to aluminum, of course, but relying on a piece of shrink wrap to hold stranded copper wire tightly against the stranded aluminum shield didn't pass the test of time. When I removed the shrink wrap I found much of the shield had disintegrated into blue gray powder. The fix was relatively simple. I cut back each end of the coax and used a small crimp-on butt connector and anti-corrosion grease to make a good electrical connection to the aluminum shield. I crimped & soldered a short piece of copper wire to the other end of the butt connector, then used a larger crimp connector and solder to tie the ends of the coax to the copper end wire. I wrapped the connection with 3-M rubber tape & 3-M 66 vinyl electrical tape and have had excellent results for the past three years. Please note that Radiowavz makes a more expensive higher power version of these Double Bazooka antennas using RG11 which has a copper shield. It is highly likely that these are constructed with solidly soldered connections to the coax shield and immune to this type of failure.
March 2024 Update: Having made the repair described above, I'm still using this 12-year old antenna on 10-meters. I recently discovered that by using the tuner built into my TS-590, this antenna also works very well on 12-meters! I have nearly achieved FT8 WAS and have worked DX stations all over the world in just the past two weeks!
W0MUD Rating: 2018-06-28
Great! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Great 10 meter dipole. Cut some noise down an S unit or 2. My first contact on it was Japan with 5 watts back in 2013 and I still use it today. Never any issues. Go get one!
W4MPT Rating: 2011-12-26
Good antenna Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Replaced standard dipole, inverted vee configuration. Does seem to be less prone to receiving extra noise. Definitely more broad banded than the dipole, which is a huge plus for a large band like 10. Well built, has stood up to the elements well. Have used it to work all over North America, and some South America and Europe. Would recommend.