| LX1AX |
Rating:  |
2024-07-19 | |
| Way ahead of its time |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
This is a 20 years review about the OB9-5.
I want not to repeat all the positive things about this perfect antenna which are well known.
Not any single problem or maintenance has to be done during these 20 Years.
Needless to tell the good and rapid communication with Tom DF2BO.
These are true facts.
Simply go for it, you will not be disappointed.
73's Alain LX1AX
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| OZ8R |
Rating: |
2024-06-27 | |
| Super antenne |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I replaced my Force 12 C-4/D eftyer24 years, with OB9-5 in May 2024 and it works great on 5 bands, thanks to DF2BO Thomas, for great service, fast reply to email. 73 OZ8R |
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| DL3AZ |
Rating: |
2024-06-23 | |
| A great performer |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I recently purchased this beam and installed it on my tower.
After reading the instruction manual it´s not a real task to assemble the beam.
All parts are labeled and some of them are even pre-installed. That makes it fun to fit all parts together and finally the beam on top of your tower.
Personally I´ve choosen the "CW-setting", all SWR- curves were fine to me.
As many OP´s before, I can´t complain about anything.
You´ll get a superb antenna for five bands.
All you hear with this beam you also can work with ease.
Especially I need to mention the great service of Tom, DF2BO.
If you have any question, you´ll get immediately an answer via e-mail! |
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| AJ9C |
Rating: |
2024-05-21 | |
| This a great antenna with easy construction! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I had a problem with an older version XR5 and decided to replace it with this antenna. Construction was easy and after assembly and installation the antenna works as advertised. If you can hear the station, you can work the station with this antenna. What few questions I had were promptly answered by Tom/DF2BO even though he was on vacation. This antenna and company are a winner! |
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| HB9FNH |
Rating: |
2023-11-09 | |
| Extraordinary antenna |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Hello everyone,
The Optibeam 9-5 is a very high quality antenna.
The design is very solid, while being beautiful to look at.
I put it on the roof of my house at a height of about 17 meters, with extraordinary results and a maximum SWR of 1.5.
In one year, I increased the countries to 120 DXCC compared to my old vertical antenna and Windom.
Many thanks to Tom DF2BO from Optibeam for his invaluable advice, particularly on the type of balun to mount
It's imperative to use a large rotor, e.g. Yaesu G-2800DXA, otherwise with strong gusts of wind the motor will break (I broke my Yaesu G1000DXC).
So, all in all, I can only recommend this magnificent antenna.
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| DL4LAM |
Rating: |
2023-08-10 | |
| Great antenna - superb service |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
update 2023-08-10:
Antenna works perfectly after 15 years on my tower. Had many thousands QSOs and still happy with this antenna. Meanwhile the OB 9-5 saw many storms, but no worries.
Service is outstanding and superb. Wrote an E-Mail on Sunday afternoon, received reply one hour later and my order was processed on Monday. That is "good old school" service and has to be highlighted. Thank you Tom for your superb service.
Post from 2009-04-26
First time I saw Optibeam products was at DJ6ZM´s station in 2005.
The quality impressed me and I thought about purchasing one of these antennas. Due to the limited space of our garden I asked Tom about an OBW 10-5. After some mails Tom convinced me to purchase an OB 9-5.
This is the smallest antenna at DJ6ZM, but it was a reliable and good antenna for 20-10 mtrs including 17 and 12 mtrs.
Delivery was just in time and I assembled the antenna a few month later in July 2008. If you know the principle of the assembly, it is easy because everything is logical.
It is good to read the assembly instructions first. I found it very positive that there are some spare nuts, screws and washers.
With help of my brother and some good friends the antenna was mounted on our tower.
The signals are very good and it is a competitive antenna. CQWW 2008 was a real fun with signals from everywhere. I like the front to back ratio.
It is worth to mention the aftersales service. I had a problem and sent Tom an e-mail on Saturday 2.30 pm. Tom called me on my cell phone at 3.00 pm this Saturday and offered his help. I was impressed, that was great – Thanks Tom.
We solved the problem and I´m very happy again with my antenna.
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| VE1JS |
Rating: |
2023-05-28 | |
| Still going STRONG!! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
This antenna has now survived ten (10) windy, cold Nova Scotia winters.
It has had one mod: the 20m reflector now has two stainless bolts holding the bracket to the boom. It’s going to stay there now.
It continues to perform just as it did ten years ago.
If I can hear it, I can work it.
A word to the wise: Get a tough rotor! This antenna has chewed up gears in two examples of a so called "Heavy Duty" rotor; made in North America, one recently and one some time ago!
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Earlier 5-star review posted by VE1JS on 2015-03-24
This antenna has now been inservice for two years, less a few days. It replaced a Force 12 C-19XR which worked very well, but was worn out by Nova Scotia's winter winds.
The OB9-5 is ,without a doubt THE best yagi I have ever owned. It is at only 12m above ground,but if I can hear I can work it....EVERY TIME.
Support from Tom is almost never needed, but when it is, Tom is there. |
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| W4CK |
Rating: |
2022-11-25 | |
| Superb design, quality, and performance! |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I cannot thank OptiBeam enough for this wonderful beam - it replaced my trusty 1977-vintage Mosley CL-33 WARC, a very rugged, reliable performer, but the difference in the pileups is quite unbelievable, both in terms of receive and in terms of comments from other stations around the world.
I LOVE the square boom - elements are guaranteed to be in the same plane.
Assembly was quick and easy - and Tom, DF2BO, is just an email away. VERY QUICK responses to a few questions I had.
SWR is great on all 5 bands.
The OB9-5HD is my first beam without traps, and even after 47 years on the air, I honestly could not have imagined or believed the difference until I've experienced it over the past few months.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. |
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| K6ZSR |
Rating: |
2022-09-04 | |
| 5 bands, xlnt docs & materials & performance-great price! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Update on my newly installed Optibeam OB9-5 yagi:
When I first put it up I tested with yagi at 20 ft. Swr was ok but no real cigar moments here on all bands.
Today, with a little time on my hands, I cranked that sucker up to 55 ft. Results were amazing to me !
No tuner in line:
(20) 1:1 across the entire band
(17) 18.068-18.110 1.5:1 18110-18.168 1.3:1
(15) 21.000-21.025 1.6:1 21.100 1.3:1 21.150 1.2:1 21.200 -21.450 1:1
(12) 1.5:1 across the entire band
(10) 28.050 1.8:1 28.300 1.6:1 28.500-28.800 1.5:1 29.000-29.100 1.2:1
29.300 1.2:1 29.500 1.6:1 29.700 2.3:1
I am now a happy camper. 5 bands, no tuner, clean looking, no moving parts & great swr on all the bands. I highly recommend this antenna. I read the reviews on eham.com, before purchasing, and they were right on!
mike, k6zsr
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| N7OR |
Rating: |
2022-08-22 | |
| Great Antenna |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
This is a very well made antenna. I am quite pleased with the engineering, the solid feeling of the entire assembly, and the fact that there are no traps, coils or anything like that. I was looking for a 5 band antenna that would last a while between maintenance cycles as I'm not comfortable with climbing anymore at my age and I rented a boom lift for this install. I had considered a steppir antenna but read a few accounts of mechanical failures and I wasn't feeling lucky so I looked elsewhere.
Assembly was completed in my shop over quite a long time, as I was in no hurry and just worked on it in short bursts on "rainy days". Sometimes literally. I had 2 questions as I went along and Tom "Blue Ocean" was very quick to reply and I can't say enough about his customer service in this day of basically no customer service anymore. Just superb.
I installed this beam on a trusty old (recently re-furbished) Rohn 48 foot free standing tower. Attached to a Yaesu G-2800DXA rotor. So the tower height and antenna size are just right in my opinion for my oversized but still basically a city lot in my small town.
After installing the beam but before pulling the new antenna feedline and rotor cable through the conduit into the radio room, I attached the antenna analyzer and everything looked great. Almost as good as the sweeps shown in the manual, and equally as acceptable. There is one small exception, and that is the VSWR at the very bottom of 21 Mhz is a tiny bit high. At and below 21.003 the VSWR just goes above 2.00:1. It looks basically flat across the rest of the band and never goes above 1.38 at any point. The antenna is adjustable (3 length settings on the active elements) and I could have gone back up and lengthened the 15 meter driven element, but I decided to leave it alone as I find it acceptable. I was a little concerned about this impacting the other bands, as this antenna isn't really a log periodic type, but it does share some of that design.
The only issue that I wish I had paid more attention to during assembly is making very sure each element is exactly parallel. When standing directly below and looking straight up, I sometimes question if this is true. Sometimes these can be optical tricks due to other objects in the foreground or background, and if mine are out of alignment it is very subtle and I like to believe that my performance isn't being impacted much if at all. I just think I would have liked to have that peace of mind that I knew they were in precise alignment. I credit my questioning of this fact due to two things. First, I was under the assumption that the square boom, the square u-bolts, the square mounting plates and the fact that the 5 driven elements need to all interact with the phase line bars and crossovers would make it almost impossible for them to be out of alignment. Secondly, the page in the manual with the overall dimensions is in metric, with a German only explanation, and I'm an Imperial measurement with fractions kind of guy my entire life. Yes, I could have asked Tom, but I know metric measurements are very precise and they always translate out to things like "Appx 13/16" or "slightly less than 17/64". I need to go on Amazon Europe and buy a proper metric tape measure.
On the air, only for 2-1/2 days so far. The radio and amplifier are happy with the antenna and have no issues. The Summer conditions have been geomagnetic stormy, but I made quite a few contacts into Europe and Asia using FT8 mode, and tuned across the end of a CW contest where everyone I called was able to copy me with no repeats. I look forward to better Autumn conditions soon, some CW contests, and just the overall improvement in cycle 25. I didn't intend to build a dx king or contest champion station. I think this antenna at this height will bring me plenty of joy operating on HF. |
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