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Reviews For: RF Systems DX-1 Pro Mk II

Category: Antennas: VLF/LF/HF Receive only

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Review Summary For : RF Systems DX-1 Pro Mk II
Reviews: 3MSRP: 470
Description:
Professional MW/SW Active Omni-directional Receive Antenna
Product is in production
More Info:
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0034.7
SHEETS_GUY Rating: 2010-10-16
Good But... Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Bought one about a month ago, and I think it's good but I have some caveats.

First it IS very expensive. $900 U.S. Second, I consider myself pretty good mechanically, not great but pretty good, and this antenna was a challenge. One of the screw holes for the radials wasn't drilled correctly so there was no chance of securing that radial. Fortunately I had a drill handy and was able to improvise. The instructions are very limited and leave some stuff out like how exactly to ground the antenna. Again fortunately I got very good info from people on the Yahoo boards to help me. Third and finally, at least for me the performance didn't measure up to what I had hoped across all bands.

On LW and MW this antenna is very, very good, pretty quiet and high gain. While it's not bad on SW I'd say above 5 MHZ it's no better and arguably slightly worse than my PAR End-Fed. Now that might be because I don't have it mounted high enough, about 16 feet off the ground not quite clearing the highest roofs in one direction (but a good 15 feet away from any of them and again only in one direction). The higher you can mount this the better and I wish I could mount it higher but in a real world U.S. environment (i.e typical suburban neighborhood) I don't think 20-30 feet is that realistic.

Would I buy this again...I don't know. I am pleased that I ultimately got it set-up correctly and I learned a lot about amplified antennas in the process. The support from RF Systems is pretty good. Henk is a very nice guy and will answer anything you ask but the time and language differences do make it a little bit difficult when you're having trouble. Maybe I expected too much. Do I think any of the other amplified antennas like Wellbrook or Dressler would perform better? Absolutely not. I have had a Dressler and this is better and I'd be surprised if the Wellbrook outperforms this but again, that one's a whole lot cheaper. I guess bottom line, a 4.5 rating on LW and MW and a 3.5 rating on SW. IF SW is primarily your thing a PAR properly erected will do as well at 1/10th the price. JMHO.
ZS00011 Rating: 2010-08-11
Outstanding active antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had my DX1 now for ten years of outstanding performance. It started off as a DX1, but about five years ago it was upgraded to the Mk II version. The Mk II seemed even quieter than the already quiet DX1.

The DX1 is extremely sensitive on LW, MW and Tropical bands and is excellent up to the 15 mHz band. However sensitivity above 17 mHz is not as good as on some of my other antenna's.

LW/LF reception is excellent and I regularly get UK and French LW stations. It is also excellent for DXing the NDB beacons and I have overland up to Angola 2,500 km's away, 360 kHz ASN Ascencion Isl and many South American beacons 7000 km's away.

MW reception is outstanding and I regularly get Europe and USA, up to 8700miles/14,000 km's distant.

SW from 2 mHz to 15 mHz is also very good and I get stations from the furthest reaches of the earth.

The DX1 is a very quiet antenna and if grounded properly will give outstandingly quiet service and resist static from wind storms

I have tested the DX1 against the popular Wellbrook ALA1530, see:
http://www.dxing.info/community/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=2580&sid=09b3530df9ea7888a65573792d25b847
For a more detailed review of the DX1see:
http://www.dxing.info/equipment/dx1pro.dx

For RF Systems home website see
http://www.rf-systems.nl/DX-one.html

John Plimmer, Montagu, Cape Province, South Africa
South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s
Icom IC-7600, Perseus SDR
ERGO software
Drake SW8. Sangean 803A, Redsun RP2100
Sony 7600D, GE SRIII, Grundig G8, Eton E100
Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro Mk II, Datong AD-270
Kiwa MW Loop.
http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx

EI4GMB Rating: 2010-08-05
Superb Pro.Receive Antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
After hearing some marvelous reviews by serious DX'ers I purchased the RF Systems DX-1 Pro Mk II Active Vertical Receive Antenna for approx.£325 from a dealer in th U.K. Due to antenna restrictions I had to install it in my attic and although not an ideal location it performed flawlessly. Because it is an omni-directional antenna it is a little noisy, especially on MW. However, I've worked some fantastic DX with it including some rare low powered SW stations from the australian outback !!!
I have the DX-1 coupled to a Drake R8 and the combination is perfect. The active antenna controller that accompanies the antenna allows for additional gain of 10db and also has a MW supression feature that helps avoid overloading from strong local stations.
The DX-1 will certainly pull in stations unreadable with other antennas due to its high intercept point.
My advice would be if you're erecting it to do so outside at a height of around 20ft. This is the ideal set-up.
Although costly at £325 the RF Systems DX-1 Pro Mk II is worth every penny. It is also used in many military, governmental and professional installations which speaks for itself !!!
As a serious active DX antenna the DX-1 is second to none and certainly will not disappoint !!!