Howard, I know Tom too.  And of course, Jay Terleski, the owner of Array
Solutions, is a very good friend.  I have Jay's home and cellphone numbers,
and often speak with him on the weekends and/or evenings.  Array Solutions
makes and sells all very high quality gear, including the Power Master II,
which I have and use every day.

Best 73


Alan R. Downing
Phoenix, AZ


-----Original Message-----
From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Howard, W A 9 Y B W
Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2013 10:12 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: There's antennas, and then, there's antennas!

Hi Ronald,

About two years ago I purchased new antennas.  After doing some research, I 
decided on three antennas from a German company, Optibeam.

I looked at Hy-Gain and did not choose them primarily because I was afraid 
of the quality because of MFJ.  Shortly after MFJ acquired Hy-Gain I called 
MFJ to inquire if they had retained the engineering people from Hy-Gain, the

man on the phone said that anyone can measure and cut aluminum tubing.  His 
response scared me off.

I looked at Force 12 and thought they were too complex and way to much 
assembly.

I considered SteppIR and was concerned about the moving parts that surely 
will need service and that was out of the question.  The SteppIR most 
definitely will give you a perfect match since the controller keeps 
adjusting the element lengths to maintain the 1:1 match.

 I finally decided upon the Optibeam company from Germany.  The Optibeam 
line of antennas are sold here in the United States by Array Solutions, a 
great company.  I Purchased an 11 element beam for 10, 12, 15, 17, and 20 
meters a 2 element beam for 40 meters and a 5 element beam for 6 meters.

The 11 element beam has 3 active elements on all bands except 10 meters 
where there are 5 active elements.

I looked at the Optibeams about 10 years ago and backed off because at the 
time they could only ship to an international airport and I would have to go

and pick them up and deal with customs.

This is all changed and arrangements have been made with UPS and they can 
now be delivered to your home.  I must tell you that the shipping cost and 
the exchange rate on the Euro can add considerably to the cost.

Now, about the antennas, there are no traps, no moving parts, all hardware 
is stainless steel and the aluminum tubing is heavy duty.  All is of the 
highest quality.

I owned a Hy-Gain TH6DXX about 30 years ago, before they used stainless 
hardware and that was a pain.  Also, the parts of the antenna were all just 
dumped in to the box and one had to measure each piece of aluminum tubing 
and match it with a drawing in the manual to determine what pieces to use to

build each element.  What a pain in the A--.  Hopefully, this is all 
changed.

Now back to the Optibeam, the pieces for each element were bundled together 
and marked so one knew exactly which element they would construct.  The 
element pieces slid in to each other and fastened with a screw in a 
pre-drilled hole so no measuring was needed to get the proper length.  There

were a few places where there were choices as to which hole to use depending

upon what part of the band you wanted to work.  Even the position of the 
elements on the boom was pre-marked with a sharpie.  The Hy-Gain antenna 
used compression clamps and you needed to measure each piece to get the 
proper length, again, what a pain in the a--.

I am totally blind and was able to put 90 percent of this antenna together 
myself after my son helped me identify what element packages were what.

As to performance, I don't really have anything to compare to.  Haven't 
tried to break through any big DX pile-ups yet.

The translation from German to English in the manual was a little strange at

times, not a big issue.  I did have a couple of questions and e-mailed 
Optibeam and got quick response even considering the time difference.  All 
communications is with the owner and designer of the antennas.

I met Tom, the owner in Dayton and he is great.

Well, this got a little long.

By the way, I looked up Optibeam on e-Ham before purchasing and all ratings 
were a 5 except one.  The only bad review was a 1 and it sounded like he was

an idiot.  There were over 250 reviews.  Over 250 reviews with a 5 ratings 
says something to me.

Howard #3

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dr. Ronald E. Milliman" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2013 10:25 AM
Subject: Re: There's antennas, and then, there's antennas!


> I'm still not making myself clear for some reason. I know all about 
> antenna
> theory, antennas for different bands, DB gain, front-to-back ratio, etc.,
> etc.
>
> I am asking which brands and models of commercially available ham antennas
> seem to be the best. Again, I know what they claim and what they report or
> publish, but what has been your experiences from a real-world, hands-on,
> operational point of view. It is like the rig that, on paper, has all of 
> the
> others beat in every functional specification, but if the rig is cheaply
> constructed and keeps burning up parts, then, no matter what they report 
> on
> paper the specs are, the rig is still a piece of junk! The same goes for
> commercial ham antennas. If it is rated for 1500 PEP, but when you put 
> more
> than 1 KW into it, it burns up the traps, then, no matter what the specs 
> are
> on paper, it is a piece of junk!
>
> So, from your experiences, which brands and models seem to really be the
> best?
>
> Ron, K8HSY