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Reviews For: DX Engineering NCC-1 receive phase controller

Category: Receive Accessories

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Review Summary For : DX Engineering NCC-1 receive phase controller
Reviews: 8MSRP: 599.95
Description:
Receiving phase controller
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.dxengineering.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0084.9
WC3O Rating: 2019-01-20
Great Time Owned: more than 12 months.
We’ve been using the DXE NCC-1 at our clubhouse station (Skyview Radio Society, K3MJW/W3GH) for a few years now. We are using two DXE active antennas with the 108 inch whips. DC bias-T power for the two antennas is supplied by the NCC-1 controller. This receive system works great for the low bands, 40 – 80 – 160 meters. Many times it is the difference between hearing a weak station and not hearing the station. Results vary based on a number of conditions. The latest good thing to say about the NCC-1 system: Last week the ham station from the TV show Last Man Standing was on 40 meters SSB after a filming session. We knew they were on the air from the west coast, but could not hear them at all on our 40 meter dipole near Pittsburgh, PA. When we switched to the NCC-1 for receive, we could pull them out of the mud! We made multiple contacts with club members. If it was not for the NCC-1 we could not have made the QSOs. The big knob for phasing control between the two antennas works great. Our two antennas are currently @ 67 feet apart, but we plan on moving them out to around 130 feet, which will make the phasing function work even better. The box really shines on 80 and 160 meters. Pulling weak signals from the EU is great, as is being able to null out noise sources. It’s all about signal to noise ratio. Even listening to rag chews on the low bands at night is much more relaxing without all the low band noises. Highly recommended.
KC0EKQ Rating: 2017-01-26
It works well... Time Owned: more than 12 months.
... but at its price, its performance is not at all commensurate and is on par with units from other makers priced at a third the cost or less.

I had a loaner NCC-1 for over two years, and used it well, and it's a fine product.

It is solidly built and a very worthy addition to your antenna array/s, and DX Engineering is always good with their products and service.

I have no issues with the phaser itself, other than being a little fussier to work than the MFJ 1025/26, but its nulls are deeper than the MFJ unit.

But the main issue for me is cost. I can *afford* it, that's not the problem. My problem is with paying that much for performance I can get just as solidly and reliably spending far less hard earned radio dollars. If I'd spent retail on it, I'd have been let down with its performance given I could achieve the same thing for $180 from MFJ, and for $135 from RadioPlus (at least on MW, to be fair).

If you want to get into phased antenna arrays and so on, you can get fantastic results for a lot less than $600; hell, my array of loops and active verticals and longwires along with the other phaser/s combined cost less than $600.

My personal favorite is the Quantum Phaser but it is only rated for the MW band, where the NCC-1 and the MFJ 1025/26 can work within the whole HF range. If you're looking for MW and top band only, the Quantum is going to be your best performer, so much better on that band than either the NCC-1 or the MFJ, and at only $135USD.

If you want noise killing across HF, the MFJ works almost as well as the DX unit at a third the cost.

I'm not trying to denigrate the NCC-1, it's a fine thing indeed. They can certainly ask for any price they'd like, of course, and God bless 'em.

But I believe that DX Engineering, as it seems to do with a lot of its products, is a liiiittle prouder of it than makes logical sense to me.
AA6VB Rating: 2015-10-22
Updated Review Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have been using the NCC-1 with two active antennas for several years, but began to be bothered by interference from BCB stations on 160 and 80. I just finished installing the 160 HP Filters and WOW, are they effective. The interference is GONE!

The NCC-1 does a great job of peaking signals. Many times the signal enhancement is 6-18 db, with only a minimal increase in noise so the S/N ratio was greatly improved. Frankly, I was surprised with the level of improvement. It makes operating on 160/80 a pleasure and has put a number of countries in the log I would not have worked if using my TX antenna to receive.

This device really does very work well! It is a great addition to my antenna system and well worth the money. The quality is top notch.

73, Bob/AA6VB
W4WT Rating: 2013-07-02
Works beautifully! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased the NCC-1 a few weeks ago and have been using it with a pair of PA0RDT active antennas I built to use as low noise antennas with this box. Let me say right off that this is a WONDERFUL combination! The small active antennas work extremely well with the NCC-1. I have the two antennas separated by about 55 feet currently and they are 12 feet high suspended from tree limbs in the back yard. I feed each one with quad shielded RG-6 and connected each one to the antenna ports on the back of the NCC-1. I have been able to easily get 45db to 50db nulls on ANY signal I want to with this combination! You have some kind of noise coming from a particular direction? No problem. Just notch it right out! Have a strong local station wiping you out in a contest? No problem. You can reduce his signal to almost nothing.

This is a great performing box and I highly recommend it. I can't wait until fall/winter to use it and the active antennas for my RX system on 160 and 80.

Joe W4WT
NI0C Rating: 2012-02-06
Improves s/n in most situations Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have very little room on my lot for antennas, so I use the NCC-1 as a noise canceller with one of the DXE active receive antennas as a noise antenna worked against my transmitting antennas. It helps my hearing on most bands most of the time. Sometimes it is just a dB or two improvement, but that can make the difference in copy on extremely weak signals.

I've used the Timewave ANC-4 and the MFJ-1026 units in the past. My main complaint with them was the time it took to adjust them for a null. The NCC-1, with its adjustable attenuators, gives me easy to find and repeatable settings as I change bands.
F6DEX Rating: 2011-11-19
Very well conceived device Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Until now, I had a Timewave ANC4 to cancel the local noise (plasma TV, DSL…); ANC4 provides good nulls of noise (while it is sometime difficult to find the best settings) but suffers from intermodulation products (I even built a band pass filter to avoid intermodulation on 20m). In comparison, the NCC-1 gives similar noise cancelling but it is much more easier to use (finding the null is very fast and easy), has less losses but more important absolutely no intermodulation products. It is very versatile with switchable attenuators, TR control line and voltage and connections for active antennas on both inputs. It is also very solidly made (the box is a little too big however…). + support is excellent. Recommended.
M0SVA Rating: 2011-02-20
DX-ers' delight! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
To be receiving in blinding sunlight at 9 o'clock in the morning my local time, TransAtlantic DX from 5150 km (3200 m) away and very easily as low as 1510 kHz (or even lower) is something I have to tip my hat to DX-Engineering (Wellbrook & Perseus too)!

*Station: WWZN Revolution Boston 1510 AM Boston
*Antennas used: 2 x Wellbrook 1530 (1m diameter)
*Phased with: DX-Engineering NCC-1
*Receiver: Microtelecom Perseus

Not much needs saying, seeing is believing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wtsz-uhlZw

73
M0SVA
vk4vgk Rating: 2009-11-05
Magnificient Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
NB. POSTED UNDER MY OLD VK2VGK EHAM PROFILE - MY CURRENT CALLSIGN IS VK4VGK

Living off the grid can be fun if...

My RFI situation was dire... specifically because my shack is located inside a shed that houses an incredibly RF noisy 7kw 48vdc to 220vac inverter that powers my home which runs on solar / wind which is entirely off-the-grid. I tried a few alternative inverters, but the problem appears systemic.

The inverter generates extreme RFI that splattered and destroyed every HF band making even local contacts miserable and usually downright impossible - if I could have turned the inverter off while operating the radio I would have, but the house (located 100 meters away) and my family demands 24/7 juice and running off batteries made absolutely no difference... the RFI wasn't so much down the wires as in the air, so all the "mains" supply filtering in the world was not gonna help and my hearby HF antennas were also soaking it up big time.

After several helpful emails with DXE customer support (Rod Ehrhart - WN8R) explaining my situation, I ordered the NCC-1 RTR-1 combo on the basis that my extreme nearfield RFI problem was a bit of a new egg to the classic NCC-1 noise cancelling target and it may or may not help - but worth a try for someone for whom the alternative was simply to shut down the station, sell off most of my gear and go mobile.

Rod explained a method off deploying the NCC-1 without the RTR-1 using my radio's RX antenna facility, but I decided to add the RTR-1 as a failsafe approach to hook-up anyway.

The NCC-1 and RTR-1 was despatched rapidly from DXE and arrived safely in Oz in a wonderfully packed carton a few days later. I followed the excellent accompanying manual/s and valuable setup diagrams (download the manuals from the DXE website and check out the brilliant bunch of well illustrated hook-up examples and possibilities) and within 30 minutes I was on the air with NO LOCALLY GENERATED RFI WHATESOEVER!!!


The great news is that, based on the RTR manual's diagram eight (One Monoband or Multi-band Vertical Antenna phased with a (passive rx antenna substituted) using DXE-NCC-1 Receive Antenna Variable Phasing Controller) I have achieved complete nulling of the S9+ interference generated by my off-grid 7kw solar inverter located just 4 meters from my radio in the shack.

In the past I have owned the old JPS ANC-4 (now owned by Timewave) and thought it did a reasonable job of reducing nearby powerline noise, but this solution and its awesome results belong to an entirely different realm.

My favourite 40 meters and every other HF band I turn to has been restored to absolute perfection - with zero trace of the extreme RFI that made my amateur radio shack entirely unworkable and the occasional prospect of relaxing SWL DX simply out of the question.

In lieu of an external active antenna, I placed the passive RX antenna (non resonant wip) right next to the inverter and thanks to the great range of control and dual antenna relative attenuation capabilities of the NCC-1 the local noise was completely and easily phased out.

My Bushcomm BBA-100C wideband HF antenna has also really come to life. Even my Palstar AT2K antenna tuner seems to be behaving more effectively across all the bands which is great news for DXSWL.

I am using a Yaesu FT-2000 with the RF Space SDR-IQ / IF-2000 pan display on a monitor that provides incredible visual testimony to the truth of what the NCC-1 is doing. You can literally see the RFI spikes dissapear off the 190Khz wide scope with zero impact on the desirable backgound RF noise floor - all of the sensitivity remains on each band, but the nuisance intermods just slip away... leaving the skies open for the first time!!!

I can not overstate the change this DXE gear has made to my Ham life... Amazing!!!

Thanks to WN8R and the brilliant engineer/s at DXE for giving me back the joy of HF ops - thoroughly recommended - best ham investment ever!!!

Greg K
VK4VGK (formerly VK2VGK)