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Reviews For: DIAMOND X-50 2m/440 ANTENNA

Category: Antennas: VHF/UHF+ Omnidirectional: verticals, mobile, etc

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Review Summary For : DIAMOND X-50 2m/440 ANTENNA
Reviews: 122MSRP: 99.99
Description:
Gain: 2m:4.5dB 70cm:7.2dB
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.rfparts.com/diamond/x50.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
131224.6
K5WLR Rating: 2020-07-15
Diamond X-50 is Great! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I had one in South Florida for well over a decade. It worked flawlesly until it was dropped while taking down the tower it was mounted on. When I moved to Arkansas, I purchased one; it worked so well, I purchased another to use as an indoor antenna when there was foul weather outside. They fit beautifully in the bottom of a 5 gallon orange bucket from Home Depot if you turn it upside down. I put a tennis ball on the ends of the radials to protect my kitties from the ends. I then purchased another one for inside use upstairs and an X-30 for a link system (also indoors). All of these antennas work just fine. I would not hesitate to purchase another and highly recommend them to my ham radio friends!
M7NDY Rating: 2020-07-15
Works straight out the box, just like they say! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Bought this after not getting any luck with an Arrow Antenna OSJ dual band.

Packaged well.
Parts look good quality.
Installed in under an hour.
Great SWR straight away!

Get this antenna if you just want a simple, hassle free antenna!
KC5T Rating: 2019-09-18
X-50 = 0 Awful Quality Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Received this antenna recently and built it according to directions. Mounted it on steel mast and began to check SWR. Right off the bat, very poor SWR on two meter band while the 440Mhz side had a decent usable SWR. Rechecked my connections, coax (with dummy load (Good)) and reconnected antenna. Same situation, very poor SWR on two meters. Have tried the antenna on different mounts in different locations. Same problem. High SWR on two meter band.
Don't even waste your time with this antenna. I would suggest going with a different brand altogether. Not at all impressed with Diamond's quality. Never again, Diamond! As they say on Shark Tank, I'm OUT.
NY7Q Rating: 2019-08-03
great antenna. easy to assemble...etc Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Have 3 of them for years now. Never a problem hitting distant repeaters or local.
G4VRR Rating: 2019-05-01
Great Antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Genuine Diamond antenna, installed at about twenty five feet with a six foot pole on a chimney stack. I have heard European stations on 70 cms and repeaters up to 50 odd miles away. I checked before installation using a pole in the garden at six feet with an eight inch patch lead of RG412. Low SWR on both bands at 145.500 and 435.500. Low SWR readings at installed position too. EU1KY Analyser seems very happy with it on both bands. Now I have to put up with pulsed warbling QRM breaking squelch on several channels of which I was unaware on the handies. Build quality is great but I'm not sure of those little capacitors inside... I put some zinc with Vaseline mixture on all screwed joints, covered them with self amalgamating tape and shoved some ScotchBrite up the mounting stub tube around the coaxial cable to disuade insects whilst still letting it drain and breathe. I'm hoping not to have to go back up on the roof anytime soon!
K6PPT Rating: 2019-05-01
Seem good Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Seems to perform pretty well on UHF. I believe the gain is overstated for VHF. Don’t have High expectations on VHF with this. Realistic gain is about 2.5 DB. RX is Decent with this antenna on VHF However.
Paul Tretiakoff In Tucson, AZ
KL2ZZ Rating: 2017-09-20
Broken out of the box? Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I see some rave reviews of this antenna, so I swapped out a Morad VHF 146HD antenna with a Diamond X-50NA.

I was immediately notified of noise on my TX, and coverage markedly declined over the Morad.

Investigating, I found that on my copy of this antenna, the female N connector and everything attached to it will rotate inside the antenna shell, while the radials remain stationary. (To anticipate your comments - no, I did not torque down the coaxial cable with a twelve-inch plumber's wrench!)

Unfortunately in SE Alaska returning and replacing an antenna like this is costly and time consuming to the point where it is easier to just try a different make/model.
NV2A Rating: 2017-07-11
Great stick Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I had one up for about 10 years with absolutly no problems. Fed it with 1/4" heliax about 50 foot to the rig. I got out what I put in and enjoyed it till I moved. It withstood the Buffalo, NY winters with no effort.

de NV2A
VK3FORK Rating: 2017-07-10
Good Antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Very low SWR from 144 to 147 then it begins to climb slightly to 147.990 , never goes over 1.5:1
in the 2 meter band ( ?? 70cm ) . Also performs well on 70cm ..Build quality looks to be excellent and the performance is good for a omni directional. A very quiet antenna that is well made and looks like it will last . Its good on both 2 meters and 70cm .
KC6KNL Rating: 2017-05-01
Great Antenna for the price Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased this antenna a few years ago. For about two years, this anteanna was used indoors. It was leaned in the corner of my home office room connected to my Dual Band Mobile radio just feet away.

I used it connect to the North Fulton 145.470 Repeater on Sweat Mountain that is 20 miles away.

I was able to get into the repeater full quieting.

I couldn't hit other repeaters like some D-Star Repeaters I wanted to test out.

Over the weekend, I relocated this antenna outside and mounted it almost 7 feet above the ground between houses.

It is connected to my basement shack via 70' of TWB-4001 Coax Cable.

I can hit 6 D-Star Repeaters. Very impressive. I have not tested it on FM Analog Repeaters yet.

This antenna is a small size and packs a punch for it's size. I live in an HOA community.

I was thinking of painting it with camouflage paint so that it would blend in with the backyard trees.

There is a cool blog on it. Google "diamond x50 camouflage".

Compared to the other Diamond Antennas, it is the best bang for the buck. I will probably buy a second one to use as a portable.