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Reviews For: Diamond BB-7V 80-10 vertical

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Diamond BB-7V 80-10 vertical
Reviews: 24MSRP: 499.00 (Au$)
Description:
Multi band hf vertical antenna
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00243.7
N9BUN Rating: 2022-05-30
Excellent antenna for tight places Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I've been using this antenna for over 3 months now and it works great. I spent the extra bucks and bought and LDG remote antenna tuner for installation at the antenna base and that makes all the difference in the world. Being realistic there is no way you're going to compete with the guys that have more towers and antennas than the CIA, but it gets you on the air. I'm happy. But more important with its low profile, the XYL is happy.
W5DUI Rating: 2022-03-21
It works well for me Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought this antenna about eight months ago and I like it very much. For my situation, this is a terrific antenna. I wanted a vertical antenna that was easy to put up, something that was free standing, something that didn't require radials, and something that I could quickly lower or raise due to our extreme weather during hurricane season. I saw a very positive review of the BB7V by Peter Waters on the Waters and Stanton video channel on YouTube and decided to give it a try.

It was easy to assemble so no headaches there. The antenna only weighs about five pounds so it's incredibly easy to install without help. I tried it on a PA speaker tripod for testing and I also use that tripod arrangement for portable work. It fits nicely in the car, goes up fast, and works great. After putting it up and testing it, I can confirm the same excellent SWR results as was shown on the Waters and Stanton review on 80 through 10 meters. My IC7300's tuner handles it fine. As for performance, I completed my "DX100" and "Worked All States" with this antenna. On phone, my signal reports are proof to me that it works well. It's actually a pretty decent antenna on phone. On 40 through 10, I get comments daily, like "You are booming in here", 5/9 plus, and "strong signal". My two farthest confirmed DX contacts on FT8 were Perth, Australia and another on Rodrigues Island east of Africa. I frequently get contacts in Australia, New Zealand, and many South Pacific islands. For FT8, this thing rocks.

It works on 75/80 meters but certainly isn't ideal. I did manage one FT8 contact in Europe on 80 but I suspect that was more about great propagation that night rather than the antenna. I get plenty of FT8 contacts in states nearer to me on 80 but not nearly as many as on the higher bands. It does work though. On 75 meter phone, I'm able to participate in nets but I'm pretty light and have some trouble being heard, so don't expect a miracle on there.

I know there are better antennas but I see no need to mess with those because this thing just works great for my needs. It's held up well with no issues this winter. I just leave it up unless I know the weather is going to be extremely severe or with lightning. It's been freestanding in winds as high as 35-40 mph. I would lower it (which takes about one minute) if winds were going to be much higher than that. The antenna has a locking mechanism in each segment so it's fast up and fast down.

Mine is semi-permanently installed by my driveway on a one inch diameter aluminum post driven into the yard several feet. The base of the antenna is about a foot off the ground. I have a 62 foot run of Messi and Paoloni Hyperflex 10 coax to a lightning suppressor mounted on an eight foot copper ground rod right outside my shack.

Bottom line - If it was stolen or damaged, I would definitely buy another one. For my situation, it's a solid five stars.
VA2DV Rating: 2020-05-25
It is what is is Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Update :
After a year of regular use, I still love the antenna. For those wondering how this vertical dummy load perform, I would say : Similar to a good mobile antenna, but without the small bandwidth problem or the pain of using a motorized control.
Without trying to hard, I am working DX on 20 and 40m almost daily. 80m is more of a challenge but I am still able to be heard around and even some DX when the conditions are just right. The key factor with this antenna seems to be height. Must be related to the fact that the coaxial cable is part of the counterpoise.
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Full disclosal : I like to try compromise antennas and experiment with them. I had in the past almost every models on the market, including the MFj loops, micro-dipoles and verticals. At my new QTH, I am limited to a front yard balcony for HF since the backyard is surrounded by powerlines and buildings. I have a low, Hyendfed antenna that serves me well for NVIS on the low bands but i needed something simple and low profile for casual DXing. After much research and readings, I bought a Diamond BB7V. Perfect fit and finish high quality product. Not something that seems to have been build in a basement. Now performance. It’s not a beam. It’s not a full size vertical. It’s not a full size dipole. It’s simply a 22 foot vertical with a 6:1 unun. Nothing more. Laws of physic indicate poor efficiency on low bands, well that’s the case. On the bands I planned to use it (30-20-17-15), it play well with signal reports as good as with my previous antenna, a HF5V dipole also from Diamond. However the real advantage of the BB7V is bandwidth. I can surf the bands without triggering the tuner all the time. I would say that the biggest drawback is the price.
But in the no-radials category, this one is the best quality/price ratio if you compare with the competiton. Just don’t expect great performance on the bands where it is too short.
KQ4BR Rating: 2020-01-19
Fantastic Vertical Antenna For Limited Space Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have owned this antenna for a few months, reception is fantastic picks up well. I have signal reports of 57 thru 59+. This is a great antenna for limited space would highly recommend this antenna.
KB2CWN Rating: 2018-03-08
Bad choice for serious HF Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Prior to hurricane Irma I had a Gap Titan . After taking that monster down a few days before Irma rolled through I decided to make a change because it was just to heavy for me to put back up. So I sold the Titan and purchased this BB7V as a replacement. Big mistake. This antenna barely gets me on the air on 40. Useless on 17, 20 and 80. No activity on the rest of the bands but the Gap blows this antenna away. Definitely over priced and over rated. Had to purchase a G5RV just to get a decent signal again. Works great as a SWL antenna, useless on HF in my opinion. Should have kept the Gap and found help putting it back up.

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Earlier 1-star review posted by KB2CWN on 2017-11-28

Made a few contacts on 20. Bands have been poor but as far as I see this antenna is useless on 40 and 80. I think a G5RV would have been a better idea at a much cheaper price tag.
N0LTM Rating: 2011-12-25
Comparable to Outbacker Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I decided to try this antenna after getting tired of venturing out to the backyard to move the wander lead on my outbacker whenever I wanted to change bands. I have used the outbacker/tripod combination for about 10 years. This antenna is basically equivalent to the outbacker with the exception that you don't need to venture outside to change the wander lead. I don't really need to use a tuner with this antenna although in my installation 40 meters the SWR does approach 2:1. The other bands are fine. I do not use this antenna on 80 meters since it really doesn't get out. My outbacker was also useless on 80 meters due to the small size of the antenna. Overall, I'm happy with this antenna.
TA1CAK Rating: 2010-12-09
What do you expect?? Time Owned: more than 12 months.
What do you expect from this vertical antenna?
If you say you can not put up any radials around, then 5/5. Want to work 80m? Not a chance to tx (maybe QRPPP out of the antenna) 0/5. Mounted on a 1m high wooden pole just on the beach of Yesilkoy Lighthouse, the first two station on 17m were VU and 8Q. When we mounted the antenna on top of a 10m mast, the SWR was infinite. You have to mount these antennas low, near to the ground.
The price can not be a match for homebrew monobanders(30$ at the most)which definitely out perform but if you do not have the space to have the dipole(+40m) then BB7V can be a nice choice. Mechanically it can be tricky and if you misalign the pull-lock part once then you are in trouble.
N5DCT Rating: 2010-10-29
As advertised Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Just got the BB7V the other day. Assembly was a snap. It's mounted on a 15 ft pole in the back yard. I used a MFJ 993B automatic tuner and got 1:1 and 1:4 SWR's on all bands. I tried it without a tuner and got about the same results except on 40 and 10 meters which were 4:1 on both bands. Great antenna if you have limited space or just don't want to mess up the neighborhood with a monster tower.
IT9JCB Rating: 2010-08-19
graound improves the antennaa Time Owned: N.A.
This is my 2nd review after some experiments with grounding. At first time I installed the antenna as per instructions manual, but discovered that in this way the coax ground was pratically floating !! So, I did connect with a piece of wire the external body of the coax to the supporting pole (about 3 mtrs) and found good improvement in 20 and 30 meters only. The mistery was solved observing that the total lenght of the antenna (7 meters) and the support (3 meters) gives an off-center vertical windom on 20 mtrs).
I don't understand how the diamond's engineers brain it's working ! Anyone owning this antenna can try some radial of proper lenght to make the antenna a total of half-wavelenght.
Anyway, it remains a very expensive dummy load !
G8JNJ Rating: 2010-04-26
OK for genaral monitoring and occasional QSOs Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The BB7V matching unit is the same as the BB6W.

I have tested a BB7V in comparison to a Comet CHA-250 and also a few other methods of matching a similar length radiating element.

Pictures of inside the matching unit and other information can be found here.

http://g8jnj.webs.com/cometcha250b.htm

Martin – G8JNJ

www.g8jnj.webs.com