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Reviews For: Optibeam OB9-5

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

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Review Summary For : Optibeam OB9-5
Reviews: 97MSRP: 1441. USD
Description:
Performant yagi designed as stacked monobander for 20/17/15/12/10 with patented feed system. Optimized computer designed German yagi without traps and with full size elements. The OB9-5 has 2 el on 20, 2 el on 17, 2 el on 15, 2 el on 12 and 3 el on 10 meters.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.optibeam.de
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
15975
ON6ID Rating: 2014-08-28
the best one Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have this antenna now since 2010 and I must say it's the best one I have ever had since I started ham radio in 1976 and after using Mosley, Cushcraft and Fritzel yagis. The OB9-5 is mounted 85 feet above ground on a telescopic tower and the results are really great.
Assembling the antenna took me about 6 hours.German quality at its best.
Thank you Tom for the excellent service !
Best 73's
Hugo
ON6ID
K0AU Rating: 2014-08-04
Big Signal Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Why do I hear "big signal" so often?

Installed my OB9-5 in November 2013 replacing a compact tribander.

Tom is extremely helpful and Array Solutions makes airfreight from Germany as simple as local shipment. The product is so well made I wore cotton gloves while building it so I wouldn’t leave fingerprints on the aluminum.

220 DXCCs in 8 months. If the band is open I can hear it, and if I hear it I can bust through the pileup to work it. The OB9-5 is an ideal HF antenna for a large suburban lot.
3DA0NJ Rating: 2014-07-14
World cup Winner Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have had the OB9-5 for just on a year now. It is not very high of the ground but has made 6000 dx contacts, so much so that I have ordered the OB40-1 now to supplement my requirements.
Optibeam is German Technology at its best and I highly recommend these great products.......
WORLD CUP WINNERS !!!!!!
WB4M Rating: 2014-07-02
A work of art! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This antenna makes an impression on you before assembly begins. Unpacking is like opening a present; it is cleverly packed with paper strips that prevent parts shifting and rubbing against each other. The paper strips filled 3 trash bags! Upon removing the parts, I was immediately impressed with the quality of all parts. I used to work in a machine shop and would come home with nicks and cuts in my hand from handling rough material. So I was impressed.. all edges had been smoothed and rounded off, all parts were de-burred, screw holes and elements counter sunk and polished. My assistant N4DSP and I both closely examined the parts and the quality was so impressive - no thin elements, hose clamps, etc.
No multiple bags of parts to dig through and sort.
Assembly took only a few hours, and now that I've done it, I think I could put one together in 2 hours or less by myself. It arrives partially assembled and there is absolutely nothing to measure, everything is pre-drilled, marked, ready to go. You almost do not need the manual - the parts are that clearly marked! I kept thinking of when I put my TH7 together and how I had to measure the elements, spacing etc.. what a PITA!
My brother in law helped me put the beam on my tower. He is not a ham but even he mentioned the quality of the antenna.
SWR checks show the highest SWR I have is 1.7 to 1, nominal is around 1.5 all bands, almost flat on 20 meters.
I must admit I had reservations about spending a lot of money on the antenna, plus air freight from Germany. But once I saw the parts, and saw it fully assembled, I knew I had done the right thing. No moving parts or seals to leak at 60 feet, no traps, nothing to rust out. The folks at Array Solutions were very helpful with arranging the purchase and shipping/customs, and they provide the 5KW balun as well.
Needless to say I am completely satisfied just as the previous 69 reviews are, all 5.0 ratings.
WV2I Rating: 2014-05-09
German engineering at its best Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Again I have purchased an antenna that has just amazed me. The design and quality in production of this antenna far exceeds any of the other high end antenna I have owned. Best of all, this antenna hears so much more than other antenna of of comparable size. To complement this fine antenna comes the outstanding technical support provided by Tom-DF2BO. Tom has never failed to respond to my emails for assistance. Again, this is a classic case of you get what you pay for.
AJ4YX Rating: 2014-03-06
One year later Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Installed the OB9-5 in March 2013. One year later the results are still amazing: worked 259 DXCC's last year with this "dx-canon". 259 DXCC's in a year! No amp, only running barefoot. Need I say more?
NH7FL Rating: 2014-03-04
Worth every penny. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I chose this antenna based almost exclusively on listening to hams using OptiBeams in Europe and the Middle East.

This is my first yagi antenna and making an informed decision was a long journey. I met Tom at Dayton and was able to get a first hand look at the build of an OptiBeam. Compared to the build of some others, it was night and day.

Upon opening the box, and having never put together a yagi, I was a bit daunted, especially with the manual being only a few pages long, however this is one of those projects which really start to make sense once you organize all the parts and look at the labeling. The markings were fool proof, and assembling the boom and element holders was simple. Everything fit together perfectly, there was no bending, stretching, torquing of any of the parts, the holes were pre-drilled with high precision. Everything just fit. My only confusion was initially with getting the correct bolts to put together the elements, after a minute or two you will figure out what's going on. The antenna is mounted at 55 feet.

As for performance? It's been amazing. I worked the ARRL INTDX contest using low power, and managed to make 669 QSO's in 24 hours worth of operation.

For the first time, there has not been a pileup I haven't been able to bust. Usually I will hear my call after just a call or two. My first QSO was with a station in Hungary.. The usual "you're 59" exchange was "you're 59 ... really 59, nice signal".

SWR is as advertised. I've almost completely quit using my AMP and simply run barefoot.

The price is a misnomer. The price is more realistically around $1500 + $500 shipping. It's expensive, but will probably outlast you.

Art K4TNX

KB5GH Rating: 2014-02-10
WYSIWYG Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Prior reviews have said it all- this antenna is a solid performer that continues to impress me. I was worried that 2 elements on most of the bands would give me minimal improvement over my vertical but I couldn't have been more incorrect. I can switch between the OB 9-5 and the old vertical and an OCF and I can hear signals on the OB that are not there on the other antennas. I'm running barefoot and I frequently get comments on the strength of my signal.

Plusses are the quality, reliability, design simplicity and customer support. Minus is the cost.

No, it's not going to compete with a 5 element monobander, but it is has exceeded my expectations.
LX1CW Rating: 2014-01-07
I did it right ! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Getting tired fixing and doing maintenance work on my STEPPIR 3El. , I was looking for another antenna with similar or better performance.Haven given much thought and havind read many reviews , the decision was quickly taken : The OB9-5 and nothing else.
After one week of analysing and performance checking I can make a first statment :
AMAZING , outstanding performance.Unpacking the antenna reveals already the superb quality.
Assembling took me 8 hrs and was very easy due to the careful labeling and perfect fitting.
This antenna is made for lasting very long. It is not too big and has moderate windload.In case you notice higher SWR on a particular band you use another predrilled hole for the last section of the driven element , in my case the 15m band.
I'm extremely happy with this antenna,no traps, no moving parts,quick band change without tuning,superb performance and the good feeling that this antenna will last forever.
Thank you dear Tom for your excellent assistance.
If you are looking for a new 5bander yagi I strongly recommend the OB9-5.
By the way , I just ordered the OB1-30.
Gilbert LX1CW
EI2HW Rating: 2013-11-15
Superb Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This antenna is quite simply superb it has opened up the world to me from my QTH, build quality is excellent and with 12m and 17m which I didn't have are a great addition.
I am comparing to a cushcraft A4S and this antenna is in a different league.

These are the words of the owner EI8BLB who has asked me to submit on e-ham for him.
73 john EI2HW. (NOW I HAVE TO GET ONE!!)