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Reviews For: Optibeam OB16-3

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

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Review Summary For : Optibeam OB16-3
Reviews: 27MSRP: 1,600
Description:
Top-of-Line Performance triband yagi for 20/15/10
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.optibeam.de
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00275
OH1EB Rating: 2020-11-07
Super performer Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Fast delivery, reasonable price. Mechanical structure good, the boom is strong. The elements are quite thin but stand well in high winds (two major storms so far). Parts are well marked and it's very easy to assemble. The 5kW balun is conservative.

Tunes well on all bands, no need for any adjustments. Radiation patterns seem to be as specified. The antenna is 32m high in free space. There are three other OptiBeam antennas in the 36m rotating tower. Interaction calculated by OB as a free service, thanks!

OptiBeam provided excellent service from order to finishing the installation.
K4XS Rating: 2017-11-21
GREAT ANTENNA Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Sold my old "superstation" and all the towers/antennas when I moved to KH6. I had been a KLM/M2 guy for years...no more. At my new place on the Big Island I decided to go with a 3- high stack of the 16-3 tribanders on a 90+ foot rotating tower.
Assembly is as easy as it can be...all predrilled, no parts were missing and all parts went together as they should.
This beast is not your Cushcraft lightweight as it checks in at around 125-130 pounds. But a lot of that weight is from a 3 inch thick walled boom.
Performance is what we all want, and the 16-3 provides it. Reasonable SWR, good F/B and F/S. I've used the stack since April and have placed first in several contests, the latest being SS phone. It is a pileup creator and breaker.
Customer service is first class.
A couple of things to be aware of... Since the antenna is manufactured in Germany, all parts are metric so replacement of any could be more of a problem. The U-bolts are all square and I could not find any source for them in the US. Since I had a rotating Rohn 55 tower, I had an issue with the elements not being exactly where they needed to be when installing the antenna. No big deal, I just slightly moved the one 10 meter element and moved the boom mast plate to solve that...no problem.
I would make the same decision again in buying this antenna

PD9Z Rating: 2016-10-13
Optibeam..there is no limit! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
After using the Mosley TA34xl i did buy and finished the installation of the OB16-3.....i turned ON my TS950sdx....Once on air, there is no limit!.
Wow! What a great Antenna! It is a magnificent collection of Monobanders on a big boom that performs beyond any reasonable expectation for a TRIBANDER.
On 20m you have a clean four element monobander, on 15m a wide spaced four element monobander and on 10m the eight elements act like a well designed eight element monobander. Apparently the gain is very high, that can be seen by the incoming and outgoing signals. Breaking pile ups, and even better, producing them, is just fun if you have the OB16-3 up on your tower.
Furthermore, the antenna listens extremely well, it is an unbelievably quiet Yagi.
I get through any pile up at nearly every first call. Signals are always incredibly strong!. It is just spectacular!. F/B and F/S are excellent. I have not noticed any swr fluctuation at all under rainy or windy conditions, not as I found out in other antennas after some time.
Well.....The assembly.....it was really easy. Everything is perfectly marked, no remeasuring required. Real solid workmanship. No screws or bolts missing. Preassembly on the ground took me alone four hours. Fitting the antenna to the tower together with a friend was done in a couple of hours.
It is truly a large yagi-but well worth the space! If you can handle the size and cost factors of putting up an antenna this size-- you will not regret going with Optibeam!

So Tom.....Lets keep the Optibeam flag high!!!!

73s Sascha de PD9Z
KT0K Rating: 2016-03-07
Wonderful beam, wonderful service! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I can't offer any additional superlatives about the OB16-3 than have already been posted, but wanted to share this email exchange. Tom answered my query the next day!:

"Hello Thomas,
I have had the OB16-3 for several years and love it! Thanks very much! I am now thinking about upgrading my signal on 40 Meters and wonder if it is possible to mount a 40M rotatable dipole on the same tower as the OB16-3 without degrading the performance of the beam? If so, should it be parallel with the beam elements or perpendicular; mounted above or below; separation distance? Or can the dipole be inserted on the beam’s boom, again without degrading the beam? I have combed the internet for info without much success.
Thank you and 73,
Greg KT0K"


"Hello Greg,
I am very pleased to understand that you enjoy your OB16-3. Who would not ??!!

Yes, an OB1-40 could be installed above or below the OB16-3. Above would make more sense to achieve more height for the lower frequency (achieving a lower take off angle).

The required stacking distance is 10 feet.

Theoretically it would look slightly more perfect to install the OB1-40 in parallel to the boom of the OB16-3, for a perfect decoupling. This way though the long boom would interact in terms of a capacitive load and the OB1-40 would become lower impedance, the SWR would be screwed up.

So the OB1-40 has to be placed in parallel to the OB16-3 elements.

Practical installations of OB1-40s above OB11-3s, OB11-5s, OB9-5s etc. Have proven that the multiband Yagi does not suffer at all.

On the OB16-3 boom there is not enough space to interlace the OB1-40, with so close nearby elements the OB1-40 even more would become way too low feed point impedance.

I hope to have answered your questions.

Best 73
Tom, DF2BlueOcean"

What better service is that?

Greg KTØK








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VE6AMI Rating: 2013-09-18
Professional Product Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Top quality and easy to assemble. Big in size and handles strong winds very well. Have used now in 4 contests, easily handles any amount of rf power. Very good listening antenna, I am using RG-214 for whip with 7/8" andrew heliax back to shack. Perfomance on each of the 3 bands is very close to same size monobanders. For a contester, this unit works very well in a SO2R environment. Thankyou Thomas and factory for this antenna!
VE7GBV Rating: 2012-09-30
Optibeam vs. TH-7 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Our Optibeam 16-3 replaces a 20-yr old Hygain TH-7, so I can compare them. The TH-7 was replaced because the traps were failing - end caps gone, SWR changing randomly. When we got it down off the tower, we saw that all of the fasteners - they aren't stainless - were rusting in our salt air and the (flimsy) plastic insulators and trap endcaps were shot, kaput.

What a difference! The OB fasteners are *all* stainless, the plastic insulators are very thick and solid, the mechanical design and materials quality are outstanding, and as for traps, there aren't any.
I bet that it will be in great shape 20 years hence. (GOOD, because we pay a professional rigger about $700 per visit for yagi repairs.)
The OB is also a joy to assemble, as many others have said.

Based on very limited experience to date, the gain and F/B of the OB seem much better than the TH-7's;
my DX total was flat for a year but now is climbing rapidly.

I'll report again in a few years.

Eric, VA7DZ
N5FO Rating: 2011-12-16
Superb Engineering & Construction Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
In evaluating a beam for my unusual location, my top priorities were performance and maintenance. This antenna delivers on both, the construction is very rugged and should last for years with little or no maintenance. Performance is as close to having three monobanders on a single boom as you'll get! I consistantly get outstanding reports from all over the globe.
WA2ETU Rating: 2011-06-16
Outstanding construction and preformance Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
In April I replaced my Mosley PRO-96 with the OB16-3 and an OB4-2 WARC. My primary reason was so I could run power on RTTY without regard to burning out traps. Also, I wanted total band coverage with a low SWR. I was willing to give up 40 meters to achieve unrestricted power operation and total band coverage with low SWR. I have been very happy with my decision. Assembly was quick and easy and almost didn't require instructions. The quality of all components is very good and the performance has exceeded my expectations. If I am not contesting, I seldom turn on the amplifier and still get fantastic reports. I break most pile ups on the first call. I have little doubt that I hear and am heard much better than with the previous yagi. Even the OB 4-2 seems to perform better than the previous antenna. The antennas meet the published specifications with regard to SWR and FB without any need for adjustment. I highly recommend the OB16-3 to anyone seeking a high performance triband beam.
WW4LL Rating: 2010-11-03
Outstanding Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I was going to run 15 meters this past weekend in CQWW SSB, however, 30 mins before the contest, I decided to run 10 meters. It was punishing running low power and no telnet, however, the bright spot is that I came within a little over 40 Qs from a nearby Alabama station who was running 7/7/7/7 stacks up to 140 ft. I also was able to beat another station in the pileups in GA, within 40 minutes of my home, also running 7/7/7/7 stacks. For the money, my 8 elements on 10 was a real winner.

I also have the OB 2-40 and it is outstanding as well! I am very, happy with my Optibeams!

Fred, WW4LL
P43JB Rating: 2007-09-02
Storm survival # 2 Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My OB 16-3 and OB 9-2 went through their second big storm and again no problems!
Very good.
Joop P43JB