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Reviews For: Diamond W-8010

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Diamond W-8010
Reviews: 20MSRP: 120
Description:
5 Band Dipole 3.5/7/14/21/28 MHz - 19,8 m long
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00204.3
VA2DV Rating: 2013-05-04
Perfect solution for small lots ! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have been looking at one of these shortened dipoles for a long time. They were not available in North america until recently. In my case, it replaced also another Diamond antenna ,the WD-330 T2FD broadband folded dipole. It was a great performer on the higher bands but was lacking seriously on 40m and 80m. The W-8010 is way better on the lower bands. Assembly was pretty straightforward with the usual high quality parts from Diamond. I had to completely remove the tuning stubs to get the resonants point where i want.The bandwiths associated with a short loaded dipole with coil are pretty sharp but usable.
This particular antenna fits pretty well on my small lot with an overall lenght of just over 63'.
In my book , a good deal for the coils , quality wire , insulators , a good 1kw balun and even some rope. A+ Diamond
MM0YET Rating: 2010-08-13
Does the job Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Bought this aerial secondhand but unopened.

Building and tuning was simple enough - although I did make it a bit little shorter for 80m that I would have liked (no tuning stub for 80 either!).

Works well enough - although it's nothing I couldn't have built, it was good value with a proper balun and the weather at my parent's QTH means that most homemade aerials don't last long!
DL8RDL Rating: 2008-07-01
Was doubtfully, now convinced! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought this antenna and was really doubtfully - short antenna, tuning by stubs and so on.

I assembled the whole thing as shown in the manual, which describes every needed step. The material provided is prepared well, assembling is no problem. A bit of feeling in mechanical subjects helps.

After hanging the dipole in about 2,5m height my MFJ-207 showed the results I expected: 5 bands in resonance but below the ham-bands. I hung the antenna that low to reach the stubs easily for shortening.

I shortened the stubs to bring each band to resonance beginning with the highest QRG.
After tuning I hung the antenna higher to 5m. After this the resonance frequencies went up a bit. This is a thing you can expect - but unfortunately I forgot :-)
HINT: tune the antenna perfect to the lower qrg´s of each band if you intend to raise the distance between ant and ground

So I prolonged some stubs again to bring resonance back into the center of the bands. But that was my fault and not diamonds...

Summary:
I like the antenna, it is playing well on all bands. Of course 80m is REALLY small in bandwidth. Therefore you need a tuner anyway. But the matched w-8010 works good on 80m!

SWR direct: QRG BW
10m:1:1,2 28.500 +/- 250kHz
15m:1:1,8 21.050 +/- 250kHz
15m:1:1,2 21.450 +/- 250kHz
20m:1:1,3 14.180 +/- 170kHz
40m:1:1,1 7.090 +/- 35kHz
40m:1:1,3 7.060 +/- 35kHz
40m:1:1,5 7.030 +/- 35kHz
40m:1:1,9 7.000 +/- 35kHz
80m:actually at 3,4MHz. But it is playing good when matched.

Good antenna for limited space - 19,2m!

btw:
I tried to match the antenna to 12m and 17m: My signal was heard...

Have fun on HF-bands with your W-8010!
G7MIW Rating: 2007-07-21
4/5 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Same problem as most encountered with the instructions and found them at http://www.houseofradio.gr/download/W-series.pdf after that installed, tuned and operating inside 90 minutes. I have coated the traps in PVC tape for extra protection.
On-Air results are OK moreso on 80m and 40m.
73.
TA2RX Rating: 2006-05-31
Excellent customer service Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
A friend of mine bought this antenna for me from Singapore. Unfortunately the manual was in Japanese. I wrote to the international customer service e-mail address I found on their website asking for a pdf copy of their manual in English. The next day the pdf file was in my mail box. However, it was not the mail address I had written them from but my mail address at yahoo. Apparently their mail bounced because my mail quota was not large enough to receive the pdf file. So they went into the trouble of searching for my mail address at qrz.com. Brilliant! THAT is what I call customer service.

However, reading the reviews, I can see I was not alone on this Japanese only manual problem. The whole manual is just four pages (one sheet of A3 paper). So I do not see why they were so insistent on giving out a Japanese only manual. It would not cost much to add an English version. Also, the image on the manual is way too small, making it difficult to read the writings. So they get a instead of a 5.
E20YLM Rating: 2005-11-03
Very nice Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The assembly of this antenna is quite easy but difficult to tune up and trimming. Very good performance in CW. Need improvement with the material covering the coils, it is very thin and may brake upon scratching.
G4CFB Rating: 2005-11-03
4/5 Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I found the assembly of this antenna quite easy the instruction quite detailed and easy to follow. I installed mine with a centre support of 8 metres tuning can take some time but very effective once tuned. I worked dx 80mtrs the other night (W3ZO) in Maryland. Good quality materials used in contruction overall length 19.2mtrs ideal where space is limited.
G4VGO Rating: 2005-10-10
Not Easy to Assemble Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I struggled with the Japanese version of the instructions but managed to muddle through. (Found the English version on a Greek radios site finally after I finished) Tuning and trimming is a bit critical, bandwidth narrow on the lower bands. Worked about the same as a multi-band fan dipole I had homebrewed a few years ago. One word of caution 1.2 kW PEP means a very few hundred watts on CW or RTTY. 20m loading coils got very hot at 200w RTTY on that band. All in all a compromise antenna that should be considered for limited space. The materials supplied are first class. I would buy another for portable or standby use. Would give it a 5 if it took more power CAS.
PA8AD Rating: 2004-01-04
Performce well Time Owned: more than 12 months.
First time it took some time to asseble the antenna because the manual was only available in Japanese. Good performance on 10,15,20,40 and 80m. I took it several times with me on holidays. Find 4 trees, put the antenna in between and check the swr. Is it out of the band just make the end of the dipool and / or the stubs longer / shorter.
LU2HLR Rating: 2003-09-28
Good but a little hard to tune Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I´ve used this antenna shortly.
Assembly is straight forward and takes about 1 hour.
Tuning is a bit tricky but not impossible.
Material quality is excelent, as everything that comes from Diamond.
Be careful with the material covering the coils, it is very thin and may brake upon schratching.