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Reviews For: HyGain DB-1217 WARC band yagi

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

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Review Summary For : HyGain DB-1217 WARC band yagi
Reviews: 6MSRP: 449.95
Description:
Trapless yagi, heavily built. HyGain refers to it as 2
monobanders on a 14' boom. 7 elements. Can also be
assembled as a 10/15 dualbander. Incredible
performance! Mine is stacked 12' above an Explorer-14
w/40 meter add-on. Buy this antenna and own 12 and
17 meters!
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.hy-gain.com/products.php?prodid=DB-1217
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0064.7
NW3Y Rating: 2014-11-04
Great antenna for 10/15 Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Sturdy and easy to build. No traps! I have this antenna for 10 and 15 at 40ft fixed to Europe on a 90ft tower. It often is 1 to 2 S units louder after the band opens than my triband at 90ft. SWR is as good as advertised. A great antenna.
WB0MCO Rating: 2014-05-25
Great Antenna HyGain DB1217 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I'll take back some of the bad things I've said
in the past about MFJ, but not all........
I was impressed by the quality of the workmanship
and finishing touches on this antenna.
I now hear what I was missing before.
Dave
W2RDK Rating: 2013-07-22
Great way to get on 12 and 17 meters Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I might have one of the last new Hy-Gain DB 1217 beams on the planet! Purchased in November of 2012. Assembled July 2013

After opening the box and taking inventory of the parts within, I found that a major part of the boom-to-mast bracket was missing. A quick e-mail to Hy-Gain got the missing part enroute to me.

Assembly was straight forward with minimal problems. If it were up to me, I would use a 2-piece boom instead of the 3-piece that is supplied. The 3-piece boom has too much play between sections that allow the elements to be out of line. I have an old (1965) Hy-Gain TH3MK2 tribander and after checking the Hy-Gain site, they carry the boom sections (2) for the TH3MK2 which would be a direct replacement for the 3-piece on the 1217.

I fashioned a jig used for aligning the elements at 90 deg. to the mast since the manual did not call out a specific way of doing it. You must rely on eye-balling the elements in order to get them lined up. Not the best way to do it in my mind.

One thing I did was to use "Never-Seez" on every nut and bolt connection on the antenna. I also used the supplied "Penetrox" to make a good electrical bond between all the aluminum tubing.

Once assembled and on the tower, I was quite pleased with the results. SWR plots taken with my LP-100A and HRD showed very acceptable levels that favored the low end of each band. I will be making slight adjustments to bring the readings a bit higher on each band.

My first contact was with IK0PHY and I received a 59+20 using 100 watts from my IC-7600.

I don't think you can go wrong with the DB-1217 and would enjoy hearing any comments from others using this antenna.

I have a page on my website dedicated to the DB-1217 project: www.wb2rcb.com by clicking on the "Antennas" tab.
K0BX Rating: 2004-04-19
Works Great on 10/15 Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I put this antenna up in July 2003. I set it up for 10 and 15 instead of 12 and 17. The instructions in the manual told how to do this. This antenna replaced a Hygain DB10/15 trapped antenna and is located about 8 feet under my Hygain 204BA (4 element 20 meter monobander).
Construction was very good and no problem or missing parts. I did use a balun instead of the coax choke. but it seems to work very well.
I would suggest not to set it up for the Phone band but rather the CW or split between phone and CW bands. My was too high in the back and I had to readjust it.

One good feature is that I can use a antenna tuner and it will work somewhat on 12 and 17. Boy to have something gain on those bands is really helpful.

The 10 and 15 meter performance is very good, much better than the old DB10/15 and the bandwidth is much wider. I am happy with the antenna, forward gain seems good, front to back is good. I know that there are other antenna's that maybe better but for the cost and weight this antenna fit my needs on my small tower (40 feet).

Joe K0BX
W0ZPE Rating: 2002-07-01
Better than spectacular! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Watch out pileups, I just about own 17-meters with this magnificent mono bander beam. It's built like a tank and it performs!!!
N2ERN Rating: 2002-02-12
Spectacular performer! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Words cannot describe the performance of this dualband antenna. Built to withstand 117 mph winds, this baby has no traps or balun. You must wind an RF choke (6 turns of RG-213) and that's it. Can break down to about 4' and is a good candidate to take on a DX-pedition. Can be assembled as a 10/15 dualbander, too. I LOVE this antenna!