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Reviews For: Alpha Delta DX-LB (shorty) dipole for 160-80-4

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Alpha Delta DX-LB (shorty) dipole for 160-80-4
Reviews: 23MSRP: $119.95
Description:
100 ft long dipole for 160-80-40M
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.antenna-info@alphadeltacom.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00234
AC0DV Rating: 2006-04-12
It works on 160... I'm happy Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I got a DX-LB to replace a 135' dipole fed with ladder-line. I was getting some RFI I could NOT get rid of.. even with careful ladder-line feeding... a low-pass filter.. upgrading the station ground... using a Link-coupled tuner... nothing worked.

I feed the DX-LB with RG-213... and some ferrite beads at the feed point. (Perhaps a 1:1 current balun to replace the Alpha-Delta's center would be a better solution?)

I can say it works on 160. I got out and got heard. (Never got out on 160 with the old 80M dipole. Ever. But then I never expected the old antenna to work on 160M.)

Both 80 and 40 appear to work at least as well as the 80M dipole... and perhaps even better. The first night I had it up... the bands were noisy. Murphy's law. The last couple of nights... it appears this antenna might pick up a lot less noise than the 80M dipole.

With the 80M I always had 3-7 "S" units of noise on 80 and usually 3-4 on 40M. NOW.. I've seen nights with NO (ZERO) "S" units of noise.. but I still get signals at +10/+20 over 9.

NOTE: I have a Cushcraft MA8040V that I can compare this antenna to... and I knew how the 80M worked in comparison to the vertical also... so I can say with certainty that this is not just "band" conditions.

I've not tried it on 20/15/10M yet... and if it doesn't work well.. I'll add a few wires to turn it into a fan dipole. (Homemade DX-LB "plus")

COMMENT: I use a tuner.. so was not really concerned about resonance.. but after a week with this puppy... I've decided I like having resonance. I tune the band... hear something... and in many cases I don't have to do any tuning. So I'm changing my mind about resonance. I like it. Which is why I'll probably add the 20M/10M wires and turn it into the DX-LB "plus".

(When I bought it I didn't buy the DX-LB "plus" because: 1. HRO-Denver didn't have it in stock. 2. Those bands aren't real active right now. and lastly 3. I can add a few wires and save the $30.00 price difference.)

I've been through a number of horizontal antenna's this last year. 1. G5RV with ladder-line/coax. 2. G5RV with only ladder line. 3. 80' full wave horizontal loop. 4. 80M dipole. 5. This new DX-LB.

I can say that the DX-LB rates as one of the top two antenna in this line-up... even though it's weight pulls the center down perhaps 5' at the center of the horizontal run.

(BTW: I think the 80 Loop Skywire is the other top choice... but it was too much work keeping it up... and ran too close to some service line feeds for power... so for sake of safety.. and also the noise it picked up... I took it down.)

I'm happy. I'd buy it again.
KY6R Rating: 2005-07-27
Surprising Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have not found inverted vee's to be very good DX antennas, but then again - not all DX is low angle. My main low angle low band antenna is a Cushcraft MA-8040V with 32 elevated, sloping and tuned radials. TO angle is 20 degrees with this config.

I have the DX-LB configured as an inverted vee, at about 50' up, and sloping downhill so that the ends are at least 20' up, and the sloping ends are in the NW and SW directions.

I almost think that there is some (beneficial) coupling going on so that while configured as an inverted vee, it also is behaving somewhat like a set of slopers. Mainly because any Asia or Oceania DX station is the same on my vertical as with this antenna. A big (good) surprise.

The construction and tuning of this antenna is exactly as advertised and documented - which means Alpha Delta is very realistic and straightforward in their ads and specs. That alone is a big plus for this company. And while I usually build all of my own wire antennas - these guys do a really good job and give you a lot of value for the money. Very much worth the price.

Much better than I had expected!
W3HKK Rating: 2003-12-16
Quality limited space antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Winter was a'comin and I wanted something SMALL for 160M that put out a decent signal. A tall order, I know!

I had already tried assorted antennas for other bands fed thru a tuner on 160, with marginal success.

Antenna length was the major factor for me. I couldnt put up a full sized 160M dipole on my lot. The Shorty antenna, at 50 ft per leg barely fit into my lot, with the center at 45' and the ends at 20 ft. It was a good match for my needs. I liked its appearance and quality of construction. I've come to appreciate the helpfulness of Don at the alpha delta website in answering any questions. He's super! AD's SWR and bandwidth specifications all checked out during my on-site testing.

But would it work?

On 40M, the answer is a whole hearted YES. It surprisingly outperforms my horizontal loop at any distance on both receive and transmit. Early reports were 1-3 S units in favor of the DX-LB. Impressive!! And it loads nicely across the entire band- without a tuner. But this is to be expected for a full size dipole.

Moving to 80M: I found the 2:1 bandwidth to be about 50 khz, as advertised. And performance to date has been quite satisfactory for a shortened dipole ( some 27 ft less that a full sized dipole.) It appears close to full size performance. Im happy! And using a tuner gives me full band coverage with fine results.

The Big Test: 160M: Here I was very disappointed -- at first. With the ends of my dipole initially at 7 ft off the ground, early reports were well down from other less than optimum antennas. Then I raised the ends up to 20 ft and found much improved receive signals and started making contacts even while "testing." And now the 3905 Net on 1892 was finally hearing me. I was working stations around the east, midwest, south and southwestern USA! Early indications after just a few days of operating is the antenna is probably within 1.5 S units of a full sized dipole at the same height. Not bad. I can live with that. Even with 100 watts. Yes, the bandwidth is 30 khz or so, but, again, with my tuner I get full band coverage with decent results.

160 is fun. Im chasing WAS. To me, 80 and 40 are bonus bands, where I am very competitive on stateside rag chewing. But I can see this as the main antenna for many folks like me with space limitations, effective on all three of the lower bands. It does a nice job!

So after just 3 days on the air with the DX-LB, I am a satisfied customer. Its built to last. And if you can get it up at least 20 ft high, it works quite well. (I suspect the large wire inductors located near the end of the antenna are adversly affected by the earths proximity if its installed much below 20 ft high. )

One final point. I have 8 other wire antennas between 3-25 ft away from the DB-LB. Interaction has been noted but I dont find it a serious problem.

Questions may be directed to w3hkk@aol.com.