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Reviews For: Diamond V2000 Antenna

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

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Review Summary For : Diamond V2000 Antenna
Reviews: 47MSRP: 150 - $175 Average (2/2003)
Description:
Tri band (6m/2m/70cm) omnidirectional base station antenna.
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
15474.4
W4KVW Rating: 2013-10-30
Does what it's suppose to do. Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Well I've owned & used the antenna since February 2011 & it has GREAT SWR on all 3 bands.It's not up very high but I will get it on the side of the tower one day or on a taller mast.I think the price is a bit high but at least it has worked for what I need it for so far.Beats having two or three antennas for what I use it for.
G7NTG Rating: 2012-10-19
Great Antenna! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
l bought myself a clone V-2000 (I WONT BE SPECIFIC AS TO MANUFACTURER BECAUSE THERE ARE MANY SUCH CLONES AVAILABLE IN THE UK AT ABOUT £80) which had a one piece fibreglass radome and a non-adjustable long radial. When l had assembled it l put it on top of a pole 7.5 metres above ground level and measured SWR on all three bands; 70cm band it was 2:1 at 433 Mhz, 2m band it was 1.7:1 at 145.5 Mhz and the 6m band it was 3:1 at 51.5 Mhz. All pretty bad! lt was as deaf as a post on 70cm and 2m although 6m was pretty good if l used an antenna tuner!
l took this antenna down and replaced it with a Diamond V-2000 which gave the following SWR readings when mounted in the same position.
70cm 1.1:1 at 433 Mhz, 2m 1.1:1 at 145.5 Mhz,
1.2:1 at 50.5 Mhz. This antenna stayed in place!
UHF is fantastic with lots of different repeaters on the same frequency coming up when using different CTCSS!
2m is really good and on 6m it performs the same as my homebrew 5/8 vertical whip.
THE ONLY DOWNSIDE TO THIS ANTENNA IS THAT THEY DID NOT INCLUDE FOUR METRES!!
WB4LCN Rating: 2011-10-24
70cm, High SWR - CURED!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I mounted the antenna on a short drain air pipe on the roof. One of the radials was only about a foot off the roof. The SWR in the 70cm band was high (+4:1). 6m (after tuning) and 2m were great. I bought a 6 foot extension and raised the antenna up and that extra height cured my SWR issue.

Full steam ahead!! :)
ZL3AG Rating: 2010-12-06
Does the Job for me! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have mine at 45' fed with RG213 and it performs just great. With 100W from an IC746 I can lift a 2Mx repeater that is 200km to my south. Good gain and no rotator required. Would recommend.
KC7LFB Rating: 2010-11-04
After further modifications... Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
>>The bad news is that the antenna is really only usable in the topmost section of the band. SWR goes up as frequency goes down; we hit 3:1 at 53MHz and it climbs rapidly below that.<<

After posting this review, I realized I had improperly converted metric to inches and thus the radials were slightly short.

After adjusting the radials to more than 1/4 wavelength at 6M, the usable portion of the band shifted down somewhat. 3:1 VSWR now occurs at ~51.6 MHz and drops smoothly above that, reaching around 1.2:1 at 54 MHz.

We also removed the factory 6M radial and reinstalled the third homemade radial, lengthened to match the others. No change was noted.

With these mods, I consider this antenna to be adequate on 6M. It is advertised as a 52-54 MHz antenna and it does cover that bandwidth, albeit with a bit more VSWR mismatch than I'd like at the low end. 144 and 440 both work very well. I'd almost describe it as a 2.5 band antenna, since it's really only suitable for the upper portion of 6M.

I'm thus bumping up the rating a notch to 4. Technically it should get a "2" since it definitely "needs help", but the mods aren't difficult once you know what to do.

The remaining question is whether there are any other tribanders out there that perform better in stock configuration than this one does. Anytime you ask a single antenna to cover multiple bands there will be compromise, but sometimes one product is better at that compromise than another.
G7MIW Rating: 2010-07-19
Great Antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought my V-2000 four years ago when I moved to my current address. Initially I was disappointed with the antenna as the rx was poor. Although tx was fine on 2 and 70 no amount of altering the length of the 6m radial would make any changes to an overly high standing wave. After taking it down for the 3rd time I figured that this can't be right, Diamond do not make antenna's that have this kind of fault so I placed the swr meter at the antenna and checked it with a portable trx. No problem on any band! So it was time to check the coax and more importantly the connections. Despite my best effort (solder, flux cleaning etc.) the centre core of the RG-213 at the antenna end was loose in the pin. A reheat and some more solder and flux had that sorted and up the whole assembly went with a single turn coil of 6" (150mm) as a choke. This time the performance was far greater than I ever expected. Nowhere in the tx bands was the swr greater that 1.2:1 So to say I was delighted would be an understatement.
Still after 4 years it is on top of the same mast, untouched and performing just as it did the day I finally figured out the problem, even with a 746-Pro running full power in to it.
Definitely a keeper.
W2XAD Rating: 2009-07-24
Works Great for me! Erected 1995 and still there! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I put up my V 2000 in January of 1995. It is attached to some 9913. When it was put up the Top of the antenna sits at 50ft. I have never taken the antenna down since erecting it! Its now July, 2009 and it still works great. I have no problems working repeaters on all the bands it is made for. Working simplex is fun also. This antenna exceeded
all of my expectations. Even though the gain on 6 meters is small, 2.15 dbi the antenna still works well. I have worked FM mobiles in Ga. on six. If the antenna died tomorrow I would get another one in a heartbeat. It cost me $149.00 in 94. About $10.00 or so a year. You can't beat that!
AI4HO Rating: 2009-07-13
One of the best for 2, 70, or 6!! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Well, here we are almost 2.5 years since my last post. Then I was AI4HO, I must say, every year I take this antenna down clean up is relatively easy, and its about time for me to bring it down this year. I'm still hitting repeater well over 50+ miles away. From ground level to the very top, the antenna stands about the 40' mark. I have several guys on it, just to make sure that if we do get one of these strong summer showers that we here in south central Florida are famous for, that the antenna doesn't come crashing down on the neighbors house. No great loss, the neighbors house I mean not the antenna.

Still hard to believe that I've had this antenna up for this long, other than yearly maintainence this is pretty much a put it up and forget it antenna. Once I got the 6 meter stub adjusted for my preference I haven't touched it. I take care when I am doing the yearly clean up, to make sure that I do not alter in any way shape or form the 6 meter stub.


When asked what I'm using for an antenna, I tell them its a 5 year old Diamond V2000A, for 2/70cm/6 meters. Its still one of the best for 2/70/or 6 meters!
N4CR Rating: 2009-03-02
Get one! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Someone gave me one of these that didn't work. I disassembled the antenna radome and found that the coupling capacitor in the middle was burned in two, probably from a nearby lightning strike. I called Diamond and asked them for the value of the cap and the guy in parts didn't know, but said he'd just send me the right one at no charge. I got the replacement cap installed and swept the anteenna with my MFJ-269. The antenna checked out fine on all three bands. This means there was no damage to the matching network in the base.

I've now had the antenna up for 4 years and it's an excellent performer. I'd recommend it to anyone who needs a quality tri-bander.
IK2SAI Rating: 2008-11-06
nice result Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I own this antenna since mid 2002: it was bought to work togheter with my TS2000.
My location doesn't help in VHF and UHF, infact my roof is lower than other building all around.
Any way it works as it can and is enough.
On 50 MHz i have worked about 50 countries ( including south africa, brazil, usa) without a big effort and i'm sure that with the new cicle i'll be able to encrease these numbers.
After 6 year in the Milan smog it appears like new.