| WS9W |
Rating:      |
2018-03-17 | |
| Happy DXer |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Have one year’s usage on my DX Engineering RBS-1. Has been an excellent addition to my antenna arsenal!
I am lucky to have a few acres in a rural {RF quiet} location. But it’s mostly all wooded, and a bit hilly. Installed the RBS-1 for the longest length possible here, and best achievable direction. That turned out to be approx 460 feet long pointed at azimuth ~20 degrees.
The system is very well made, and has been durable. But it ain’t cheap. Was able to save a bit of dough buying the 450 ohm ladder line elsewhere. Used about 450 feet of DXE 75 ohm coax for the feed line, as recommended. For mounting, strung the ladder line through trees, height above ground typically 7-10 feet.
Ground rods were 3/4 copper pipe, driven 5 feet deep.
So does this thing work? Absolutely, very happy with the result. On 160-80-40 meters lower noise and higher signal strength than heard before. Also useful on 30 meters. Heard stations that were not readable before. Helped me to finish off my 5BDXCC award, because I was hearing 80 meter DX stations much better.
Beverage operating tip: turn off your AGC for those weak signals, then SLOWLY decrease receiver gain manually. As you do this, the noise may decrease more than the signal. And you are likely to find a “sweet spot” where the signal is most readable. Doesn’t work every time, but sometimes it does!
The directional switching is a nice feature, particularly at my location. No room for another beverage here, so getting coverage in two directions a big bonus. Also have experimented with a preamp on this beverage input, but found that is pretty much overkill. 99% of the time, don’t use the preamp.
My main interest is DXing, and this antenna is VERY helpful on the lower bands. As the danged sunspots continue to diminish, I expect our low bands to be very busy the next few years. This is where an RBS-1 shines…..WS9W
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| KA1IS |
Rating:      |
2016-03-31 | |
| amazing on 40 meters |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I have wire doublet antennas at about 75 feet. They work great on 40 meters but after installing the beverage antennas I realized there were lots of signals I wasn't hearing.
I put up 2 beverages: NE/SW 350 ft. and NW/SE 240 ft. Using ladder line for the antennas (as recommended) attached to trees at about 8 feet high.
My QTH is Maine. With the NE beverage 40 meters is now open to Europe most of the day. The signals go from watery on the doublet to solid on the beverage.
You can sometimes null out some QRN noise on strong signals by trying various directions.
This system is expensive, if you build 2 of them and buy all of the stuff through DXE. But I didn't have the time or the circuit soldering skill to build it all from scratch using the Antenna book. And I had 1000 feet of surplus RG-6 laying around.
I am using the DXE switching system, with a single feedline, and a preamp (which helps even out the received signal level with the other antennas)
Btw, these antennas are also effective on 160, 80, and AM broadcast - but I work mostly 40 meters.
Highly recommended, if you have a similar situation plus an acre of land with trees on it. |
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| OH6MW |
Rating:      |
2011-10-05 | |
| Excellent product |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I have two bi-directional beverages, switchable into four directions. I purchased all DXE's components for the system expect cable and antenna wire. I found some nice 300 ohm twin lead from Germany, thanks for DX-Wire and some cheap RG-59 from local shop.
I had some problems in the beginning. Too much attenuation, maybe 20-30 dbs. I checked all the components, by-passed some components to check their operation, measured the coax etc. I bought DXE's 450 ohm ladder line, changed another beverage wire to make sure that 300 ohm twin lead is good for system. It was. Finally I decided to change my 900 ft long run of coax from radio shack to beverage field and all the coaxes between components to better quality 75 ohm coaxial cable. With new cable system works 100%, very good pattern, good signal from beverages.
Use quality products, use quality coaxial with your system. There is "RG-59" no-factory-name no-specification cables available in stores. Use cable with has factory behind their product and has listed specifications. Some cheap RG-59s have small center conductor which has problems to make good connection and not so good braid.
DXE's components are excellent. Recommended 100 %. DXE + DHL has very fast deliveries from US to Europe, product manuals are clear and DXE's www-site shows good information. When I had problems with my installation I received very fast replys (several) from DXE's customer support, Rod WN8R. Thanks again Rod. Reasons for my difficulties were from my own low quality coaxial. Rod gave me a very good assistance and quided me to right direction in troubleshooting the system. Once more: use quality products, use quality coaxial, check connectors, check everything. Make good groundings, read the manuals. Be happy when it works 100%. If you follow the manual and use good quality parts you will succeed with your system.
Very good results already after short experience. The sensitivity is good, with DXE's preamp beverage signal is equal or stronger than with my tx verticals. So in many cases preamp not needed but it is good to have it available when you need some extra gain. Signal / noise ratio is superior, many times I hear USA stations with beverage and can't copy them with verticals. Nice to hear Rotuma 3D2R jumping out of noise with beverage. Really looking forward next top band / low band season. Thanks DXE, thanks Rod WN8R, thanks Tom W8JI.
73 Ari OH6MW
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| XU7ACY |
Rating:      |
2010-10-07 | |
| Fabulous Product |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Cannot say enough good things about the DX Engineering RBS-1 Reversible Beverage Antenna.Exceeded my highest expectations,was simple to install and great support from DX Engineering.Used 600'of 300 ohm TV twin lead and get great reception in 2 directions.Now only if I had the property to install another one for NE/SW! Peter,XU7ACY |
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| W7VO |
Rating:      |
2010-05-21 | |
| As advertised |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I only have a couple of acres, so a 400 foot beverage is all I have room for. Even with this limitation, the antenna works well! I feed it to a Ameco PT-3 preamp to really pull out the weak ones.
I found a good deal on the 450 ohm ladder line from a guy on E-bay, so if you shop around you can build your antenna less expensively. I used a single 10 foot 1/2 copper pipe and cut it in half for the two ground rods. Here are some pictures of the install:
http://www.w7vo.com/beverage.html
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| W8ZR |
Rating:     |
2009-11-03 | |
| Good design, but a few quibbles |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I installed two 720 ft bi-directional beverages, switchable into four quadrants, using DX Engineering components. The antenna works great, but I have a few suggestions for potential buyers.
1. The directions are a bit unclear in places. For example, the downloaded manual for the RBS-1P shows Beverage A being the Normally Open relay contacts, whereas it is Beverage B in the supplied manual.
2. I used 450 ohm ladder line for the beverages, supporting it on 4x4 posts, spaced 120 ft apart. I used the DXE plastic supports to secure the LL to the posts, but with only moderate winds they ripped apart and damaged the LL in a few weeks. I ended up tossing the plastic supports and clamping the LL to the posts with wood blocks. If you want to use the plastic supports, then I'd advise spacing your posts no further than 75 ft. The ladder line is HEAVY and puts a lot of tension on unsupported lengths.
3. My RLS-2 antenna switch had a wiring error. This switch rectifies and filters the voltage on the coax, which it uses to close a small relay. The silkscreening on the circuit board in the unit shows the filter capacitor to have a positive ground, but it should have a negative ground. I replaced the capacitor (a 100uF/50V electrolytic) and grounded the negative lead to correct the wiring error. Then the switch worked normally.
4. There is an annoying pop in the receiver when switching between beverage directions. Probably nothing can be done about this, but it's annoying and strong enough to capture the receiver AGC.
5. I don't think it's necessary to use an external preamp, at least with long beverages. There is plenty of signal strength, even on weak signals.
This is the first time I've used beverages, and they're truly amazing. Listening to a frequency on the AM BC band, for instance, I can hear four different stations loud and clear for each direction. On 160m CW, signals are 599 on the beverage that are totally unreadable because of noise on my transmitting antenna. |
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| K3LR |
Rating:      |
2005-12-09 | |
| Outstanding! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
We have been using a pair of these Beverage systems for 2 years now. They are 880 feet long and perform perfect. Setup was easy and F/B is 20 dB or more on 80 and 160 meters. The best advise I can give you is to have 3 four foot ground stakes (4 feet apart) at both ends. That makes the system really work. It is a very easy antenna to install. Pictures are available at http://www.k3lr.com
73!
Tim K3LR |
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| N3KS |
Rating:      |
2005-06-10 | |
| Excellent Product |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I installed an RBS-1 along a 5 foot high wood fence - about 400 feet long. Primarily I use it on 80 and 40 meters - it really does make the difference between not even hearing a station and being able to work it - my estimation is that it provides a 10 to 15 dB improvement in receive signal to noise ratio. The directional switching capability is nice - essentially you get two beverage antennas in one package. This is an excellent low noise receive antenna for 160/80/40. de Kam N3KS |
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| NQ4I |
Rating:      |
2004-11-09 | |
| Excellent Product |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| I have 2 of the RBS-1 Systems installed on my property...they are 800 feet long...the result is that I have 4 directions to receive signals from...they provide me with 4-6 s units of noise reduction on 160m and 80m...it makes the difference between working dx on the low bands and not even hearing it....I am very happy with the RBS-1 and would endorse it for anyone needing a low noise receiving antenna on the low bands....de Rick NQ4I |
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| KN2M |
Rating:      |
2004-11-08 | |
| A well-made product with an exellent instruction manual. |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
The RBS-1 is a two-direction, reversible Beverage array designed and used by W8JI. It consists of the reversable feed point matching system (RBS-1FP) and a reflection transformer (RBS-1RT). The unit can switch directions of reception by having a 10-18 Vdc voltage applied through the coaxial feed. I modified mine to switch with a separate wire attached to the circuit board. The antenna between the two units is standard 450 Ohm ladder line (not included) which I purchased from one of the internet wire supply stores. Operating range is a broad 0.2-30 MHz, but I typically use beverages only for 160 and 80m. Fully isolated grounds are used to prevent common-mode noise and unwanted signals, according to the manufacturer.
My property has about 25 acres, but the station is located in the NorthWest corner. I was unable to conveniently put any listening antennas Westerly until now. My listening antennas consist of a remote relay box already in place located on the guy anchors of one of the towers. The switch and feed points are bonded together and connected to a ground rod with a cadweld connection. I have a single feed line with 6 conductor cable and already underground feed line. It was theoretically easy to install this product, but the RBS-1 is set up for switching control voltages via the transmission line. My station is set up for internet remote control and uses Alpha DAS boxes to control all accessory functions via special software. The detailed instruction manual indicated a special switching box was intended to control the antenna, so the feed point was modified with a secondary wire to allow direct control of the unit. The ladderline was installed running for 720 feet to the EastNorthEast, fairly parallel to an existing single wire beverage for the first 150 feet. I have some trees on the property and used wire ties to attach the ladderline and cold seal tape directly on the branches to eliminate friction of the antenna rubbing on the trees. The ladderline drapes like a lazy "W" with spans of up to 200 feet to the single ground rod termination and the special termination reflection transformer. Unlike my current wire beverage antennas, this antenna has no termination resistor. My first impression of the antenna was very disappointing, until I discovered the RG6 cable I used to connect to the feed point had a corroded PL259/F adapter which was installed last winter and properly sealed. I figure that winter installation must have had some moisture that was sealed in. After that problem was isolated and corrected, the antenna perked up nicely. I listened during Sweepstakes and found signals to the West and Southwest came up by 3-4 S units when switching between the towards and away position. The forward gain of the antenna seems to be comparible to my existing beverage to Europe which is approximately the same direction and my Africa antenna which is about 900 feet long. This is a very nicely made product. I have sealed the case with liqid electrical tape, as well as the termination screws. I expect this will give very nice service and is ideal for me as I have one switchable beverage point and no land to the West in order to place additional listening antennas. Good luck with it. |
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