Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2013 15:30:24 -0500
From: Scott Weiss <s.weiss018@gmail.com>
To: Towertalk Reflector <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: [TowerTalk] Antenna reccomendations
Good afternoon,
My two cents are dedicated to the Optibeam. This past summer I installed the OB
12-4 at 90 ft on a Rohn 45 tower. I am a firm believer of " You get what you
pay for ". And this is the case with the Optibeam. The antenna and its parts
are first rate, along with the technical support from Thomas DF2BO. Your email
will be answered within 2 to 3 hrs depending on time of day in Germany. Yes,
the antenna is pricey ( import fees and air travel to US )...but you cannot
beat the quality and the spec's are dead on.
73's
Scott N2WF
## at 1990 euro’s it had better be good. It’s 154 lbs too. I notice the
swr BW on their 40M portions is a bit on the high side. They really need some
type of relay setup, etc, to widen them up on 40m,
so you can user the entire band..and not just half of it. The ants use metric
size tubing, which is pretty tough to find in NA. Does anybody know what alloy
or yield strength tubing they use for their
ants ?? The are well built.... except for the boom to mast connection.
Muffler clamps don’t have enough surface area imo. The F-12 double plate
idea works a lot better..and esp if you use the DX eng style
jumbo mast to plate clamps. “ super duty saddle clamps”
http://www.dxengineering.com/search/department/clamps-and-fasteners/product-line/dx-engineering-super-duty-saddle-clamps?autoview=SKU
## I finally got fed up and made my own boom to mast plates. Built from 8”
tall x 17” wide 6061 T6 plate, x .375” thick. Two identical plates used,
one horz, and one vert. I used 3 of the super duty saddle clamps
on the vertical plate that attaches to the mast. You can get em in 2”, 2.5”
and also 3” You can also use em on the boom to horz plate if you want.
They have a huge surface area vs a muffler style clamp. they won’t
twist on any mast, nor slide down a mast.
## The optibeams are superb ants... but their prices are horrid....and are
increasing again on march 1, 2013 http://www.optibeam.de/ Most models are
also heavy. Shipping cost from germany is not gonna be cheap on a
heavy box.
## Flip side is, they are still more cost effective vs putting up a stack of
yagis on one tall chromolly mast. stacking yagi’s on one mast means a certain
amount of interaction, plus the huge cost of the chromolly mast.
With a single yagi up there, any kind of mast material will work, since the
optibeam will only be half a foot above the top of the tower. Only 1 feedline
and 1 balun required for the optibeam.
Later... Jim VE7RF
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