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Reviews For: Low Band Systems

Category: Filters, RF: bandpass, duplexer, lowpass, highpass, RFI/EMI

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Review Summary For : Low Band Systems
Reviews: 2MSRP: $350 USA
Description:
Low Band Systems HF Transmit Band Pass Filters are very
high quality multi-stage devices designed to specifically
limit the RF band pass to a single Amateur band. They
eliminate image and harmonic RF interference issues for
dedicated mono-band operations in multi-radio contesting
environments. Required for use with transmit
multiplexers, these passive filters add the isolation
needed to allow multiple transceivers to be operated on
different bands simultaneously on the same antenna.
Product is in production
More Info: http://lowbandsystems.com/collection/filters
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0025
KO8SCA Rating: 2020-01-29
Great piece of engineering Time Owned: more than 12 months.
A few years ago while I was getting ready for a DXpedition, the team leader requested I should quickly find and bring a set of HF filters. The team member who was to bring the HF band-pass filters had to drop out unexpectedly for personal reasons so I was entrusted with finding and purchasing a full set of filters (10M to 160M), only 3 days prior to leaving New York for a DXpedition.

I had purchased products from DX Engineering before and never been let down with the delivery time so I decided to go this route again, to be on the safe side. The problem was that I was not familiar with the brand of filters they are selling LBS (Low Band Systems http://lowbandsystems.com/) and I was a bit uneasy about it. The last thing I wanted was for the team to run into issues with the filters during the DXpedition, a situation that won’t have an easy solution when you are in the middle of nowhere, on some far away island. But I figured, if DX Engineering is selling and supporting the product, it must be of good quality. I was in for a pleasant surprise.

When you participate in enough DXpeditions you start to realize that even apparently insignificant features are important. I am listing below the characteristics that I found important in an HF band-pass filter, especially from the point of view of heavy use and abuse that a filter sustains in a DXpedition:

Strong aluminum casing: compared with many similar products on the market, the LBS filters have a thicker and stronger aluminum casing and that helps prevent damage during transportation and heavy use.

Venting slots: continuous use of filters causes heat dissipation, especially during contests or DXpeditions. The unique venting slots, like the LBS filters have, help increase the life of the product by providing additional cooling to the electronic components inside, in addition to what the aluminum case is able to provide.

200W/500W: the LBS filters are tested to run continuously at the maximum advertised power limit 200W or 500W without failure. Recently I’ve run close to 500W into an LBS 500W 60M filter for the entire 10 days of the A50BOC DXpedition and had no issues. The filter was slightly warm but never hot during the entire period. This seems to point to a reliable hardware and mechanical design.

2 way filter: the LBS filters are 2 ways, which means it doesn’t matter which end of the filter you connect to the INPUT and which one the OUTPUT; convenient to say the least. I witnessed enough cases in DXpeditions or before contests when in rush to get something fixed/diagnosed under time pressure, filters made by other brands and not having this feature, get connected the wrong way and that many times causes the filter to fail; the proverbial “oops” moment with dire consequences.

Band labeling: the label that marks the filter frequency is not actually a label but the marking is cut off into the casing, creating the air vents of the filter. This seems so trivial of a feature but I encountered the problem so many times where the paper label on other filters wears off and the wrong filter ends up connected to the radio.

I’ve had a set of LBS HF filters for a few years now and they traveled to quite a few DXpeditions. So far no issues were encountered.

Whenever I notice an amateur radio product that has a great design from all points of view, I like to acknowledge and thank the company for putting the extra design effort into even the smallest details. This is one of those products that deserves a “Thank You” note!
KB8O Rating: 2017-09-03
Best high power filters on the market Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Purchased these filters from DX Engineering and received the 80/40/20 filters the next day. They are very easy to implement into a contest station. With filters already in place near the transmitters (low power) we were still seeing issues on some harmonics on certain bands. After placing the Low Band Systems filter at both operating positions we solved all of our issues in our Multi-2 legal limit station. The filters are solid, well built and are marked clearly for each band. Another great purchase for the station !