| W7DO |
Rating:  |
2024-02-08 | |
| Mounted on NN4ZZ Tilt Plate |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I had this antenna in storage for more than a year but is now on the air. This antenna as well as three OptiBeams I have were a pleasure to build. Buy a compartmentalized plastic box off Amazon and sort out the M7 and M10 hardware. Once you get used to reading the antenna's schematic, building is enjoyable. My installation is on a US Tower HDX-555 with a NN4ZZ (now www.degendesigns.com) tilt-plate. However, one has to secure an adapter kit from degendesigns to allow the square 80x80mm main boom to be attached to the tilt-plate. The tilt-plate allows the antenna to remain in a horizontal position while the tower is cranked over for easy access for maintenance and tuning. This removes the headache of climbers, boom-trucks, ladders and such. My OB15-7 is now deployed and is set-up for CW/Europe which allows digital coverage of FT4/FT8 as well has CW. Good VSWR on all bands as predicted by the antenna's specification. At the end of 175' of 7/8 hard-line, sensitivity seems great and at this writing several hundred FT4/FT8 Q's have been logged on each of the seven bands. It is very nice to have Yagi antenna gain on 30 and 40 Meters. |
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| K6ELQ |
Rating: |
2019-11-30 | |
| Another winner! |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| This is my third OptiBeam antenna and replaces a OB4030 over a OB9-5 combo. It has been up for a year and accumulated about 3400 CW QSO's. Performance has been identical to that of the OB4030/OB9-5 combo it replaced with the added benefit of one less feed line to manage. With the square boom there is no worry about element alignment nor is there any element sag due to the sturdy element construction. Due to my crowded urban environment (houses, block walls, concrete slabs, power/telephone lines, telephone pole, etc.) the SWR minimum frequencies are not exactly where they should be and vary as a function of heading despite the antenna being at 21m AGL (limited by city code). This has been the case of all my Yagis over the years. Fortunately, OptiBeam provides extra mounting holes for the seven driven element end sections to allow for frequency adjustments which I plan on doing next spring. This is the antenna you want if you want to reduce your antenna footprint to one nice, neat, compact, great performing package for 10m thru 40m and as I have said before, if BMW made antennas, this is what it would look like. |
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| EI5KF |
Rating: |
2018-03-06 | |
| Antenna for life |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
My beam is up 5 years. No issues after many storms.
Thanks to Tom at Optibeam.
Spend the extra money, you get the quality.
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Earlier 5-star review posted by EI5KF on 2013-07-16
I was looking for an antenna that would cover most bands.
The 15-7 fitted the bill and Tom was most helpful answering my many e-mail.
After receiving my antenna, we set about assembly and testing. The antenna parts were all marked and assembly is easy. As with all engineering works, "RTFM" and you do should not have a problem.
The antenna went up, tested perfect and was operational for IARU HF Champs the following weekend. Having only worked thru an 80m doublet up to now, the 15-7 was a dream on all bands, just point and shoot.
Thanks Thomas for a quality product, I look forward to getting many DX contacts in the coming years.
EI5KF
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| N3KS |
Rating: |
2017-12-08 | |
| Outsize Performance |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I installed the OB15-7 at my Ti5W / Ti7W QTH in Costa Rica and have been thrilled with the performance, especially given that this antenna covers every band from 40m-10m including WARC. A year ago it was the primary contest antenna for several contests and resulted in top two world finishes in CQWW CW and ARRLDX CW - from Zone 7 as well as North American records for 40m single band entries in CQWW SSB, WPX CW and WPX SSB. This year I added a big brother to this antenna, the OB17-4 here in Costa Rica and a guest op made over 10,000 Q's in CQWW CW by using the OB15-7 and OB17-4 in a differential direction stack configuration. On another note, the winds can blow crazy hard here and the antennas don't flinch. As always, Tom, DF2BO is very responsive, knowledgeable and provides personal customer service. |
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| LA9TJA |
Rating: |
2011-08-28 | |
| Great! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| After a breakdown in march this year, i had to get a new yagi. And i have seen much on Optibeams home site, looking for OB 15-7. I decided fast to order this one. First off all, what a great construction. And how easy it was to get togheter. Very nice mark of all the elements. And the manual was easy reading. After trying this for a month now, i have to say i am impressed. I have easly been comming through the piles so far. Also after two contests, it seems that the OB 15-7 has a big gain. So i can in the strongest way recommend this antenna. And by the way... Thomas DF2BO gives a great service if needed. |
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| MM0KTC |
Rating: |
2011-07-04 | |
| Multi Band Yagi - 40-30-20-17-15-12-10m |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
The Storey
i have been licensed for about 3 years. i was granted permission by Fiona (my wife) to erect a tower with a better antenna than the SteppIR Vert i had at the time (and still have). the criterai was to find an antenna, that would cover all HF bands and once up, would be maintainance free.
haveing looked any various options, the OB15-7 was the choice without doubt. the order was placed, and about 3 months later it arrived along with a OB6-5.
Assembly
this was easy, the instructions where clear (but i overlooked one part) and as al the part where clearly marked and bundled together, the assembly only took a couple of days. i did not rush this, just took my time as the weather was hot and sunny at the time (April 2011).
Fixing to Mast
Again, this was simple, due tot he manin boom being in 3 parts. i was assisted by several friends from my radio club, and this only took a few hours. connection was made and i was off.
Problems
always read carefully the maunal, and check and diference. if i had done this, i would not have conected the feed at the wrong place. this caused the vswr on one band to be off the scale, but this was all sorted by Thomas, once i had emailed a picture and to ask what could be wrong.
Tuning
the antenna was about on the mark for tuning out of the box. my location though, being surrounded by trees, may have affected things, as the point of resonance on 12m and 17m was below the bottom of the band. Again, Thomas remodeled things based on my readings, and suggested that the 17m and 12m elemts could be shortend slightly, this worked and all is now spot on.
BackUp
i have not made this clear above, byt there was a period of about 4 weeks where Thomas and I where emaiing with regard to the issues i had, the help recieved was second to none, and if i where to give him a mark out of 10, it would need to be 12. the help and support given was amazing, and for that, alone, i will always be in his debt.
Performace
again, this is simply superb. have been lucky to use some big club statons, this is on parr. when the antennas is at full hieght (22m) breaking pile ups is not an issue, often on first call.
Summery
the whole package is simply great, the antenna is very well enginnered, and to quote a friend who when first saw it asked "is it made in Germany?" and then whent on to say "you can tell, nothing else could be enginnered that well." i think sums it up. the performace is second to none.
if i was asked to recomend an antenna, then the range from Optibeam would be the choice. |
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| I2VGW |
Rating: |
2007-09-19 | |
| An absolute "dream Yagi"! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| After many years of dxchasing to climb the top of dxcc I decide to change my two Cushcract X/7 and A3WS (with the element of 30 meters).They did a great job so as a matter of fact it was not so easy to find the new, ideal beam for my shack because I’ was looking for a unique antenna, highly performancing and without any compromise. Eventually I’ decided for the new OB15-7 , that’s 15 Elements Yagi 40-30-20-17-15-12-10 meters, made in Germany by Optibeam, company managing by Thomas Schmenger ,DF2BO. Tom’s ham spirit , his great, professional experience, his reputation and, last but non least, his friendship habits, help me to find just the right antenna for my more and more increasing wishing of enthusiastic dxer. Easy to assembly, now I have my new OBI 15-7 on my roof since two weeks and I can tell that’s is really an unbelievable product. Solid , with no compromise mechanical and material choices :only aluminum, stainless steel and quality insulating material And with particular benefits like lossfree shortened 40m elements high Q air coils, by the "OptiBeam decoupling stub technique". Broadband single 50 Ohm coax cable feed system by the high efficent "OptiBeam direct coupled driver feed system" . Optimized computer designed German Yagi without traps and with full size elements. High gain and f/b ratio on all bands. Decoupling of the WARC bands from the others by the unique "hidden sleeve element technique". One beam for seven bands, with a big gain. In one word: really seven interlaced monobanders on one short boom with one feed line,that’s mean : the Yagi for the ham with the highest demands . Yes, just like me. Congratulations Tom and his team also for a real, extraordinary customer service! Well worth the money, I love it! Sorry for you, friends but I like break the pile-up. |
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