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Reviews For: OptiBeam OB11-5 (high performance 11el fivebander 20-17-15-12-10

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

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Review Summary For : OptiBeam OB11-5 (high performance 11el fivebander 20-17-15-12-10
Reviews: 36MSRP: 2028 USD
Description:
Performant Yagi designed as interlaced monobanders for 20/15/10m plus high efficient "hidden sleeve element technique" for 17/12m.
Loss free broad band OptiBeam driver feed system reqires only one single 50 Ohm coax.
Optimized computer designed German Yagi without traps and with full size elements. High gain and f/b ratio on all bands.
The OB11-5 has 3 el on 20, 3 el on 17, 3el wide spaced on 15, 3el wide spaced on 12 and 5 el on 10 meters on a 6.00 meter boom.
No switching, no tuning, no flexible parts, an absolute trouble free performer !
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.optibeam.de
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
15365
N5TY Rating: 2010-07-29
Excellent antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is an impressive antenna. Structurally sound with the performance you expect from an antenna this size. Assembly was easy and straight forward. Tom quickly resolved a minor parts problem and the antenna went up on schedule. The antenna is on top of a hill and winds have exceeded 65 mph at the 15 foot level. The antenna bends but doesn't break.
PY2ADR Rating: 2010-07-27
Fantastic Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
My old antenna was a TH-6dx from HyGain wich gave a lot of fun and many dx. I was looking for a antenna w/ the WARC bands and with same or better performance of TH6. After lot of seach and talking w/ Tom from Optibeam i made up my mind to this model. I visited Tom who showed me the factory and all components - impressive quality.
Well packed, the antenna arrived and i started (alone) assemble the elements and boom. Then i asked for help to crank up the 50kg of the antenna.
Well the swr is true 1:1 in ALL and ENTIRE BANDS. Performance is better because it´s a full size.
I must say that this antenna is stacked with a 2el40m wich is 3.1m higher and on the tower i have a inverted V for 80m. No interaction between then but you must respect this space.
Tnx Tom and Diana.
Proud to be the 1st Optibeam in PY land.
73´s PY2ADR / ZY2C
VE4EAR Rating: 2009-02-19
Amazing Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
All the previous accolades are accurate. This antenna was installed this past fall and I have been impressed ever since.

Previous antennas were a 130' doublet at 45' and one of those mechanically tunable verticals for the 40-6m bands mounted at 25 feet with tuned elevated radials.

The OB11-5 is now installed at 52 feet in an urban environment.

Shipping was direct from Germany to the local airport. We had to retrieve the large box from customs. Packaging was more than adequate, plenty of fill and a sturdy box allowed it to make the long flight intact.

While unpacking the antenna, you can not help but notice the attention to detail, the clean holes, the quality construction, and quality materials. One also get the sense that this antenna was crafted by a person, packed by an individual and all parts bagged and counted. Clearly this product does not roll off an assembly line into a box.

Assembly was also straight forward. As this is a large antenna, plan to build it as close to the installation site as possible. Instruction manual was adequate. A couple Allan keys and nut drivers were included in the parts. There was also a couple extra nuts, bolts and washers supplied in case you drop one in the grass. All parts were labeled which made part identification simple.

The most difficult part of assembly was installing the driven elements to the phase tubes. Take your time here as the precision machined elements will all line up and ensure a correct orientation.

Assembly time was close to 6 hours of solo work.
The antenna was supplied with the Array Solutions Balun.

The antenna was installed via a tram line. The final resting place of the antenna is on the mas beneath a OB5-6 6m yagi and a 2 element shortened 40m yagi.

So far with 4 months of operation, all I can say is it is an incredible change. Signals to EU and AS are now solid copy (when the bands are open), 2-4 S units stronger.

The most notable difference is the noise. There is a consistent 6 S Unit lower noise floor compared to the old vertical, 4 S units lower than the long wire.

If propagation permits, I have been able to work with 100W whatever I have heard. For the first time, I actually feel loud running this beam breaking through pileups with great ease.

Front to back ratio is quite good, typically 3-4 S units. The maximum rejection appears to be off the sides is close to 7-8 S units.

Matching on all bands is within the published specs. The only issue we have is on 15m where the tower seems to affect the match. Currently the antenna comes within 8" (20cm) of the top legs of the tower and the VSWR varies from 1.6:1 to 1.3 as the anntenna rotates. In spring we will raise the antenna to see if the separation helps to improve the match.

In the past 4 months the antenna has seen winds over 100km several times, icing and temperatures below -40 Deg C. No degradation in performance has been observed. Mechanically this antenna is built to last.

I realize S unit measurements are not meaingful to others and as soon as the weather improves, I will borrow a spectrum analyzer and make some accurate measurements.

I am very pleased with this antenna in all regards. In particular, I enjoy beating several of the locals with their SteppIR beams through the pileups.

Outstanding pre and post sale support from both Tom, DF2BO, and Jay at Array Solutions. If you have the tower to support it, the rotor to turn it, you will love this antenna.

73
Ed
PA2MRT Rating: 2008-12-10
absolutely terriffic Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have the OB11-5 up for some time now and am really fascinated by this antenna.
Though the antenna consists of many parts the assembly was easy going, due to a far going pre assembly job doen by OptiBeam and due to a well organized manual.
Mechanically it is built like a tank and should certainly survive under severe weather conditions.
The SWR is like published or even better, very flat across the bands.
The directivity and f/b ratio by turning the antenna is outstanding.
Regading the performance on the air I only can say that no.1 I work what I hear, no. 2 I break through pile ups easily with the first call most of the time and no. 3 I produce my own pile ups when calling cq dx.
I wanted a long time reliable, trapless, high performing multiband Yagi and by putting the OB11-5 up my tower certainly have made the right choice.
Work you in the pile ups, 73, Hans, PA2MRT

ON6IP Rating: 2008-11-02
Great Antenna ! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Since August 10 i have the Optibeam 11-5 installed on a 12m tower. Using the small FT-857 with just 100 watts i managed to work already 118 DXCC countries in phone.
I must say that i choose for the Optibeam because of the "No trap" philosophy, single feedline for 5 bands, excellent construction and the very good presales and postsales service from DF2BO Tom.
Hope to enjoy if for long time !
WI9G Rating: 2008-11-01
Awesome... Time Owned: more than 12 months.
It's been about 19 months after I put up this antenna.There were no problems putting together this antenna with the instructions provided.It took me (one person)apx 10 hours to put it all together and another day to go over everything. making sure it's all correct.EVERY part was there in fact I lost some small screws and nuts,washers and there were extra just in case. The craftmanship is second to none. First tests on SWR were as to specs advertised. I have been using a hygain th5-mkII and a hygain vertical,15 years, with the ob11-5-11 installed my ICOM 751 cant handle all the loud signals Now I need to buy an radio with better dynamic range..Im hearing hundreds of signals on 15 meters with the ob5-11when I switch to the virtical only 3-4 of the loudest.This antenna is just awesome. There is no need to worry about motors not working except the rotator.This is the best value I spent in ham radio. Thanks ,Mike WI9G
MW0ATI Rating: 2008-08-21
The best by far Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Hi all,
I have finally got my Optibeam OB 11-5 on the Tower, it went together easy enough, but I do think the instructions supplied do hinder more than help at times, but this is just a small gripe, the quality of the materrials supplied is also excellent, so I could not wait to get some dx on it, I do work in Asia on a 28 day on/off rotation, so I got it on the Tower a day before I had to fly back to work, so as luck would have it the bands where in poor shape, but on my return home, I got to put it through it's paces, and wow, what can I say, in marginal conditions, I get heard by dx stations on my first call, and am usually complimented on my signal strength, it's the best antenna I have used so far, and for a comparision, my past antennas have been a Cuchcraft X-9 then a Force 12 C31-XR, so to sum up, a quality product that lives up to it's claims, and if you email Tom with any questions, he replys straight away, again the best after sales service I have experienced
KE1B Rating: 2008-04-01
Simply the finest beam made! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This antenna is simply amazing. The performance is exactly what the specifications say; VSWR below 1.3:1 across 20/17/15/12, and the lower half of 10m with no adjustments or tuning. I had a chance to try it out during the DX Contest this past weekend, and the results were beyond my expectations. With only a low-power exciter, I was consistently getting through pile-ups on the first or second call. Within a few hours, I had worked dozens of countries on every continent. This is a new experience for me.

Plus, the assembly and mechanical engineering was impeccable. Not a single missing part, not a single mis-aligned hole, not a single incorrect instruction, and not a single bad word uttered during the process. (It took about two days work for one person.) In fact, the assembly process made me really appreciate Tom's attention to detail in the design and fabrication. The antenna is a true representation of what "German Engineering" means.

Thanks, Tom, for a great product; it is everything you say it is and more. I look forward to enjoying it for years to come.
F4DPT Rating: 2008-03-28
Nice antenna Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
very very good antenna, it helps well in the pill-up, the service of Tom is really very well, Tom is with listening. here the antenna is with 17 meters of the ground, it has very good performance, last week on 20m I could make a JA with a large pill-up, just at the end of 4 call, QSK received 59+30 dB with Juste the 100W of the transceiver.

the only disadvantage is the great catch with the wind, I am in a corridor of wind, and I am afraid per moment HI!!!

Thank you Tom for this antenna.

73

5B4AHJ Rating: 2007-12-22
A potent and well engineered HF DX antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This is by far and away the best antenna that I have ever owned. I get exceptional signal reports from DX stations.
Assembly is a significant amount of work, but is straight forward. The manual is good, and the whole antenna is extremely well engineered. Everything is pre-drilled and fitted together perfectly, and in the large number of parts there were only two holes that had not been fully drilled through.
In summary, a potent 5 band HF DX antenna that is well engineered and I expect to last for years.