| AA6SC |
Rating:  |
2015-08-05 | |
| Outstanding performance |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Three of the 40-20-meter CCD dipole antennas we own perform well at two separate station locations with the third CCD acting as a spare. One is used daily, mostly on forty meters, with superb results. Often I serve as the "southern relay" for the Jefferson Noon Net mostly because the majority of participating stations can hear me, and I can copy them. There is a practical limit of 800 watts recommended by the manufacturer, which has not been a problem. We run 450 watts when needed in a pileup or under poor conditions, but most of the time 50 watts is adequate. The CCD antenna we use most is oriented with one leg pointing northwest, the other northeast. Results are impressive. The manufacturer, AI7R, Dave Kelley, stopped making these great antennas about a year ago as the copper-clad steel wire he had been using became unavailable. He is considering alternatives. Meanwhile, there are 291 CCD antennas out there, and those who have them will agree that the CCD is effective. |
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| KF7VXA |
Rating: |
2014-05-20 | |
| This Is The Best Dipole |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
A friend recommended the CCD antenna to me, said it was the best dipole ever. He was right on the money.
I got the 20/40 meter band version. The antenna is at just under 40', and inverted V with the ends at 25'.
I have been using a Gap Challenger vertical, which I still think is one of the very best verticals, but this CCD is 1.5 to 2 S units better at the receiving end and talk about quiet. The Gap is very quiet for a vertical, but with the CCD, I can hear faint stations that are in the noise with the vertical.
This antenna works best at 35' to 40'. No need to put it at 50' or 60', it won't work any better.
My highest SWR is 1.7 to 1, with 1.2 to 1 and 1.3 to 1 being average.
On 40 meters, I don't have to change the loading of my amplifier one bit. It's right on the same setting on the whole band. 20 meters requires very little change in loading.
The antenna is advertised as having 3 Db gain over a regular dipole. From signal reports, I have no doubt it has at least 3 Db gain over a regular dipole.
A regular contact always had me at 10 over 9 with my amp loaded on my vertical. With the CCD, I'm 20 over 9 plus.
The CCD smokes my Alpha Delta dipole, which has always been a darn good performer.
One note of caution, do not try to run the antenna with your amplifier set to the wrong band, it can smoke the capacitors (a few anyway).
All in all, for the money, this is by far the best dipole on the market. It will make you think twice before upgrading to a more expensive antenna. I don't think anything except a good yagi on a tower will beat this antenna, it's everything that is advertised and more.
I have a 600 watt amp, getting this antenna is better than going to a 1500 watt amp with the bonus of better ears, what more could you ask for under $200.00.
It radiates off of the entire antenna, which is one full wavelength long at 40 meters. You can bend it in the middle and have your signal go 360 degrees if you wish, or even put it at 6' to 10' and put out a great signal. If you have CC&R restrictions, here is your antenna. Easy to hide under the lip of a wood fence and still get great DX.
The boards with the caps are strong as can be. The wire is thick stranded S/S. You can pull this one as tight as you want and it won't break.
It comes with a 4 to 1 balun installed
I've never been happier with a low priced antenna than this one. A must have for anyone who cannot do a tower with a Yagi, it's the next best thing.
73's John KF7VXA |
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| WA6JGM |
Rating: |
2013-12-02 | |
| Very Good |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have had the 80/40 version for 4 years now and it really works great! If I can hear it, I can work it barefoot. Worked a ZS2 on 40 early in the evening and had a nice chat. Reports both way's 5-7 to 5-8.
The down side it's 235 feet long, but it is 2 S units quieter than my old G5RV. It is very well built and has survived quite a few severe thunder storm winds here. When this one finally dies, I'll be ordering another one.
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Earlier 5-star review posted by WA6JGM on 2012-02-11
I have used the 80/40 version for 3 years now. The receive is quiet compared to a dipole. I have worked many DX stations (barefoot) on 80/40 meters that I could never hear on a dipole, maybe due to the quiet receive. I have used this antenna for field day running QRP and have had remarkable results with it. I have used it up at only 5 feet and it worked very well in a 1000 mile range plus the swr did not climb up too high at that height.
The down side; very long (235 feet), blow a capacitor and its done. Does not work well on harmonic operation, only the band they were designed for.
You can make bends in them if your lot is small plus no high voltage on the ends as typical with a dipole. If you are stuck having to use wire at your QTH give this antenna a second look. You can home brew one yourself Dave will sell you the boards and has a calculator on the site for design.
Bottom line for me, I'm glad I have one!
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| KC5LVW |
Rating: |
2013-01-19 | |
| Fantastic! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I'm a second time CCD owner (40M version 1st time) and now have the 80/40 version. Replaced a Carolina Windom with this one at 50'. Smashing on 80 & 40M. No tuner needed where I operate. A little higher than I'd like at the upper end of 80M at about 2.1:1 but still not bad for such a big band. Outstanding TX & RX on 10, 15, & 20M. Doesn't do well on WARC bands by a 2-3 S-units ,vs a standard dipole. Not having to use a tuner or even fire the amp has been nice. She's a keeper. |
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| AC0XU |
Rating: |
2012-04-05 | |
| 40/80 CCD is great! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I want to add a comment about SWR. At 6', running along 3 sides of my backyard fence, the untuned SWR on 75m ranges from 1.5 to 15. Doesn't sound too good, but none of my antennas tune as well with my ATU. With my Tokyo Hy-Power HC-200AT in the shack at the end of 150' of RG213, the SWR after tuning is 1.0 across the band. I rarely see it doing that well. The ATU has much less trouble tuning this antenna than any of my other antennas. I would think that an outdoor ATU mounted at the feed point would be even better. |
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| W2PJR |
Rating: |
2012-01-09 | |
| Wow - Outstanding Antenna |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I'l keep this review short because the CCD/20 is the simple the best wire antenna I've ever used. There really isn't much more to say. This antenna just works better than anything else on the market.
Three plus months and I'm continually impressed. |
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| K6ATZ |
Rating: |
2011-12-09 | |
| Eureka, it works! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
If I had the room to do a shootout with a standard dipole at a good height, I never would have tried a CCDAntenna in the first place. Glad I did. I'm amazed at the performance of this design in limited space close to the ground. It works better than my previous shortened dipole, which I'll describe in this review, and that one was higher. I have the 230 foot 40/80 CCDAntenna installed along the top edge of a wooden fence here, on three sides of the backyard. I mounted it with Fi-Shock SC-70B electric fence standoffs ordered via Amazon.com, only six to eight feet off the ground, running past a few nearby (vertical, random, widely spaced) metal objects.
SWR: On 40 meters my RigExpert analyzer reported a 4:1 SWR at the feedpoint with the wire just lying on the ground! After mounting the antenna along the fence, at 6' on two sides of the yard and 8' on the last leg, and connecting 50' of coax plus other equipment and jumper cables, my radio sees under 2:1 throughout the 40 meter phone band. In the CW/data portion it's under 3:1, so the entire band is easily handled by my Icom's internal trimmer (a.k.a. tuner). On 75 it is also under 3:1, and although SWR rises as I go down in frequency from there, I can get the rig to tune almost the entire 80 meter CW/data range too, and there's always my external Palstar tuner. The Palstar can also tune this wire up on 30 and 60 meters - but not on 160, just thought I'd try that too.
Performance: My previous dipole was a 40 meter shorty with two resonators, mounted north-south at 35 feet. That one had a QSO range of about 400 miles (640 kilometers) in two directions. The CCDAntenna, at only 6 to 8 feet high around three sides of the house, is giving me a range of 900 miles (1450 kilometers) in all directions. This is not a NVIS situation - there are many myths about that, apparently - and I don't use this antenna for many local contacts. Any vertical should go farther, if I can figure out where to put one here, but it likely won't be as good as the CCD for regional ragchews across the western US. Whether this is a "quiet" or "noisy" antenna on receive really has more to do with your surrounding environment. Here in the heart of Silicon Valley high noise levels are the norm, and I've also got RFI problems on a few specific frequencies from nearby equipment that I may not be able to solve, so I am considering a small receive loop from Pixel or Wellbrook.
Quality: I ordered via the CCDAntennas.com website and shipping was prompt. Construction is clean and strong, and includes a balun with an SO-239 connector. A spare capacitor board is included, just in case stuff happens. The antenna is officially rated for 800 watts but in the manufacturer's computer models it survives to 1.5 kW, and I can verify that it ignored my accidentally squirting a brief burst of 1 kW power into it. With the antenna at head height and close to houses I keep the power much lower of course.
I can only imagine what kind of DX I could work with the CCD at a decent height! Meanwhile this genius invention gets me on some low bands in ways no other antenna can. From here in Northern California, so far I've enjoyed armchair nighttime SSB and PSK31 QSOs to Colorado and handed out contacts in the Arizona QSO party when I'd otherwise have had to sit out the evening. Works for me. Not much to photograph in this case, but I'll try to post something via www.k6atz.us soon.
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| KI6KQJ |
Rating:  |
2011-12-02 | |
| last place in tx shootout |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
we did a side by side shootout on 75m
tx is almost 1-2 s under a dipole
rx is nice quite, because you cant hear any one under the fringe zone
sure is alot of work & cost of a less of an antnna
probly because it has to cupple & uncupple soooo many times
on good thing is it matched up nice
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| N3OJD |
Rating: |
2011-11-01 | |
| SPECTACULAR PERFORMER |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I've had the 20/40 CCD antenna up at 33' inverted vee for a couple of months and it's all good. The only down side is that I'd just rebuilt a Heathkit SB-200 and now I've got no use for it. I'm always barefoot and I get through first time in all but the very worst pileups -- Europe, Asia, or Australia.
Not only do I not need the amp but I've got three antenna tuners gathering dust. Been a ham 42 years and this is the real deal.
Love it. Don't need anything else. |
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| KD7HVL |
Rating: |
2009-09-17 | |
| Great antenna |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I have the 40/20 up at my QTH here in Tucson,AZ. the antenna works as advertized and the reports I get are as claimed. the operating band width of this antenna is under 1.5:1 for the whole band. I have compaired this antenna against a 40 meter inverted Vee about 15 feet from the CCD (Same direction)on the 40 meter band with a A to B switch, and I saw a good 3 to 4 S unit increase in signal strength and a lower noise floor. I have mine configured as a inverted Vee with the apex at 40 foot and the neds at 12 feet. I have no complaints the product is very good the suport is also very good and Dave seems to care about what he puts out. by the way I tried to make my own years ago with little success as it keep comming apart in a high wind. You really have to try this antenna, no bull. |
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