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Reviews For: Fritzel FB33

Category: Antennas: HF: Yagi, Quad, Rotary dipole, LPDA

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Review Summary For : Fritzel FB33
Reviews: 8MSRP: 660
Description:
3 elt. 3 bnd beam with traps
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.classicint.nl/textdui/dhfbeam.htm
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0083.6
DL9BDM Rating: 2022-08-27
A high performer, built to last Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My FB33 triband beam was made around 1975 by Kurt Fritzel, DJ2XH, himself. All hardware parts are stainless steel and durable aircraft grade aluminum alloy. I bought it from an estate sale in 1994. Only replaced the balun with the more powerful series 83 AMAC 1:1 current version. Since then it has been in continuous operation without any problems on top of my 40 ft Versatower. And here near the north sea coast, the weather is mostly ruff and wet. The regulary autumn storms of the last decades were not been able to harm my antenna in any way. Even the resonances of the traps are still perfect.

After the death of Kurt Fritzel, DJ2XH, the production went to the RF technology company Hofi (hofi.de), where even today all spare parts and accessories are available - if you really need them. The design and quality of this Fritzel beams is comparable to the equivalents from Mosley Electronics. The FB33 is similar to the Mosley CL-33-M.
ON5YA Rating: 2020-07-08
Bad "Fritzel" HOFI quality. Nonexistent service!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I recently bought a used Fritzel / Hofi MFB23 3 band minibeam.The SWR was far too high on all bands. The dip was far too low at 10,15 and 20 m. After a search on the internet, I learned that a certain series of these antennas have a construction error in the traps. I have tried several times to contact Hofi, but they even don't answering any mail .The legendary Fritzel quality and service is completely undone by Hofi. No support and no response. Crappy antenna and crappy quality.
on5ya
OE5CSP Rating: 2020-02-08
Very nice trap yagi Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I was very lucky to get this beam for 100 Euro. It was about 20 years old when I bought it and it replaced a Cushcraft A3S, which was even older. I can´t tell which one is better-I think they are about the same, but I prefer the Fritzel beam.Please note, that the Cushraft was about 30 years old and there was a certain amount of element sag. Even after 10 years this beam worked without any problems.Assembling is much easier, because the holes are drilled and everything is fixed with screws.Most of the time I didn´t need a tuner, SWR was fine.The balun and all traps were still ok after all these years. I was very satisfied with this beam.
I replaced this yagi with a modern dynamic antenna. Performance is much better, as expected, but they need maintenance and repair work regularly!
SM5SRR Rating: 2006-05-07
Well built FB 53 Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Received this antenna from a ham who had had it up for over 20 years. The antenna is solidly built and does a good job. Be carefull with power over 500 Watt as the traps tend to blow. (The previous owner blew a few running 1 KW.) For me, 100 W does the job as the antenna sits at 30 meters (102 ft). It has been through some very rough storms at my location without any problems. For an antenna which has been in operation for close to 30 years, the wear and tear is negligible; proof of good workmanship.
PA9DX Rating: 2004-06-01
Poor antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I had a FB53 14 years ago. I had it in the air (24 m)for only 1 year and lost the beam in a storm. Till then I was quite happy with the beam.

Then I bought a KLM KT34A this is a 4 elements tribander (now it is M2) this antena is better build than the fritzel. The gain was better swr was better too.

So I would advise buy a M2 or Fluid motion Steppir.
N7QF Rating: 2000-08-04
Typical German craftmanship. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have experience with both the FB-33 & FB-53 from back in the 70's & 80's while living in Northern Germany. The arrays are built extremely well and perform nicely. The 33 is a 3 element tribander and the 53 is a 5 element. The Fritzel company is good to deal with and have many other fine antenna products such as verticals, wire antennas, baluns, and a really wonderful antenna wire which is multistranded flexible Cu wire with a nice flexible uv resistant PVC coating. This wire is a wire antenna guys dream. I used it on quads overe there and it was wonderful.
PA5MW Rating: 2000-08-04
Fritzel FB53 Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Bought a used 5 el tribander, Fritzel FB53, which was up in the air for over 10 years and not being used anymore. Took me some 4 weeks to clean all aluminum and traps(inside too). Very rigid stuff! All high Quality 2mm thick wall alu. Only bought some new stainless bolts etc. to re-assemble this monster. I took out the original tiny voltage balun and installed a home made current balun. This antenna works like a killer for me. Can hear things like never before. I have had 4 other HF yagi's from 3 different brands before, but this is tops in build quality. Never mind about the floppy balun. ' 73 Mark, PA5MW
ON4BCJ Rating: 2000-08-04
tribander Time Owned: more than 12 months.
When I purchased it, it seemed that most of the hams around here had one.
It's in use for about 3 years now and the only problem I had was with the optional Fritzel balun that got full of water about a year ago.
Specs given by the manufacturer seem a litle exagerated though.