[TowerTalk] Antenna reccomendations

[Jim Thomson]

Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2013 15:30:24 -0500
From: Scott Weiss <s.weiss018 at gmail.com>
To: Towertalk Reflector <towertalk at 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