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Reviews For: Spi-Ro D-44 Pro

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Spi-Ro D-44 Pro
	Reviews: 4	MSRP: 123.95
	Description: 10-40 meter dipole with PB-1 balun.
	Product is in production
More Info: http://www.spiromfg.com/
# last 180 days	Avg. Rating last 180 days	Total reviews	Avg. overall rating
0	0	4	3.8

N5XJT	Rating:	2016-10-25
Update - Great Antenna!			Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Update to my Oct. 2014 review. The antenna is still in place, no problems. I added a Unadilla 1-1 current balun with excellent results. I have since installed a S9v31 vertical but found no or very little improvement over the D-44 depending on the band and location of contact, surprising considering the D-44 is inside the attic and about 20 ft. lower. The D-44 is quieter and receive is about the same. Gotta say the Spiro D-44 with a Unadilla balun is a keeper.

KC2HZW	Rating:	2010-01-23
8 Years Later			Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have been running 500 Watts through this antenna for the last 8 years and have yet to have a problem. The antenna has worked flawlessly and I have never had a problem with it. The rope holding it up wore out after 7 years, I replaced with some black 1/4" UV resistant rope and I expect it to keep working for many years to come. While it is true that you can't open the traps for repair, this has proved to be unnecessary. The wire connections at each trap are still original from the factory and have proved themselves after 8 years of contesting and dx operation. ---------------------- Earlier 4-star review posted by KC2HZW on 2003-06-11 This trap dipole works on 10/15/20/40 Meters. The balun is well constructed and handles 1 KW. There are two traps on each leg. The traps are constructed of PVC with some nice brass connectors and look weather proof. The traps are rated at 600 Watts. Wire is 14 gauge cooper clad. This antenna has survived a bad winter and a ton of rain without any trouble. I run an amp on this antenna, averaging 500 Watts and it has performed flawlessly. I have a yagi on 10 M so this antenna gets a work out on the other bands. The antenna is installed about 40 feet up hanging from a tree branch in an inverted v configuration. SWRs are good and seem broad banded enough. A tuner will help if you want to work CW and SSB on each band. The tuner in my rig handles the SWR without any troubles. I used some camo paint on the balun and traps and the antenna is virtually invisible on my property, a real plus. Emails to the factory have been answered in a quick, polite manner and they seem nice to deal with. I would reccommend this antenna to anyone tight for space or looking for a low profile antenna.

K9YC	Rating:	2004-02-29
Balun shorted in 3 months w/100 watts			Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
A postscript to my earlier review. The Spiro balun that I bought to with my Spiro trap dipole developed a dead short after only three months operation with a maximum transmitter power of 100 watts! (I don't own an amplifier). Thanks to this shorted balun, I was nearly off the air on 80 and 40 for three months at the peak of a Chicago winter -- all I could do was load it as a long wire! Go with a DX Engineering balun -- a bit more expensive, but far more solidly built. Jim Brown K9YC ---------------------- Earlier 0-star review posted by K9YC on 2003-11-09 I'm quite dissapointed with the construction of the traps used in this series of antennas. The wire that makes up the antenna is screwed to substantial brass fittings, but the connection is not weatherproofed, nor is it soldered. When I soldered the connection to weatherproof it, I managed to cause one of the traps to be intermittent and another to open circuit. The traps are glued together so that they cannot be opened for repair. Something is badly wrong with the construction of these traps. I bought two antennas in this series - a 20/15/10 model and a 30/18/12 model, both "Pro" versions. The former is up in the air, and works on 20 and 10 (so far), but has become intermittent on 15, so that my 100 watt TenTec Omni V and K2 are both going into protect mode. The 30/18/12 model is on the floor of my shack and is going to stay there until I throw it out. On the plus side of the ledger, the electrical design of antenna seems fine -- it hits resonance more or less near the center of these bands for which it is designed and has good VSWR bandwidth. It also seems to have decent radiation efficiency. I'm feeding it with Belden 9259, wound into a cable balun at the antenna (8 turns, per the ARRL Antenna book). All of my transmitters are in the 100 watt class. FWIW, I'm an EE and have been hamming since 1955. I've written a dozen or so reviews here, and this is the first strongly negative one. It took two guys more than a day to even get ON a very difficult roof that got that dipole up 45 feet in the clear. Now we've got to do it all again. Count me as a very unhappy customer. Jim Brown K9YC

KE3GK	Rating:	2002-10-07
Well made - low noise dipole.			Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
As far as dipoles go, I have previously owned a G5RV which is still in service. I decided to try a trap dipole and did a lot of research on the internet. Looking at about 10 dipoles, I kept on going back to Spi-Ro Manufacturing. Theirs was the best that I could tell, both in construction and cost. I sent a few emails to Spi-Ro asking some questions and they always replied promptly and courteously. The D-44 pro is a 47 foot dipole consisting of 2 traps on each leg. Construction is 14 gauge copper and the antenna comes pre-assembled. I have the G5RV mounted at 36 feet and the D-44 mounted at 28 feet both in an inverted V configuration. Both antennas are using 9913 coax with approximately the same run length. The first thing I noticed was that my TS-440SAT tuned up on 10, 15, 20 and 40 quickly and that the noise level was lower than on the G5RV. I gained about 2 S units over the G5RV too. Overall I am well pleased with the performance of this dipole. I would recommmend this 47 foot dipole to anyone who has limited space to hang a dipole.

Category:

Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

Product:

Spi-Ro D-44 Pro

Summary:

Rating:	Time Owned:
Great! Good OK Needs Help Poor Awful!	0 - 3 Months 3 - 6 Months 6 - 12 Months More than 12 Months

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