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are Diamond products just junk?

KD2GOE

KD2GOE

W9WDX Amateur Radio Club Member
May 30, 2013
950
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Buffalo
i have a kenwood TS-2000 so i got a MX-72n Duplexer and the SWR reading on it are horrible like 3:1 with it plugged in to my 50ohm load.

all so got a diamond x50a antenna the SWR is ok not to bad on 70CM and good on 2 meters.
well it is Deff! on 70cm i cant hit a repeater, i am getting 5s units less then i was with my MFJ dual band mobile NMO antenna in my attic! and just cant received anything as good as i was with my MFJ dual band mobile antenna on 70cm on 2 meters it is 2s units beater maybe... this thing has to be some real junk if it cant keep up with a junk 5 year old mobile antenna that i had to rebuild 2 time!
getting real frustrated with this hobby with every thing i play for wont work when it comes to antennas...

i am going to send it back to dx engineering i need to fined a antenna that will work that is 5 to 7 feet if any one can help.
 
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I have a few Diamond products and they were all top notch. The SX-1000 SWR/power meter is very good and the couple mobile antennas I have had were and continue to be great. The mobile antenna mounts are very good.
 
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I also have had good success with Diamond antennas. I have the (FH23 / I think) 2m vertical at 48 ft and it does VERY well...I used about 60 ft of LMR-400 for feedline to go up the tower and quite pleased with the performance.
I also have a Diamond X50 , I used for a time.They work ok but I had to take that apart and tune the element as I found I had a Japan version and the US bands are slightly higher. Those X50's are ok but need to be up 30 or 40ft in clear space to make them work effectively. ( they don't have much gain) and good low loss feedline is a must for 2m and 440 bands to get best operation.
GL
All the Best
Gary
 
Well it looks like i have 2 lemons the Duplexer and the antenna. Ill hope for the best and swop them out

I did test the antenna with out the duplexer.

It is not my week. I am all so working on a laptop dell XPS m1730 had to replace the power port upgrad the cpu. That whent fine... it has dual nvidia 8700gt in SLI was upgrading it to an 8800gtx in sli and that was DOA! So now i have to return this 8800gxt to ebay... Just want to get this laptop together so i can play world of warcraft at my gf house... Yeah we are nerds
 
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FREQUENCY: 144-148 MHz 435-450 MHz GAIN: 4.5 dB 7.2 dB POWER:
200 Watts
IMPEDANCE: 50 Ohms VSWR: less than 1.5:1
MAX WIND RESISTANCE: 60m/sec (135 MPH) MAST DIAMETER ACCEPTED:
30-62mm (1-1/5” to 2-2/5”) LENGTH: 1.7m (67”) WEIGHT: 0.9 kg (2.3 lbs.) CONNECTOR: UHF Female WARRANTY:
1 Year against defects in material or workmanship.

Why are you using a Duplexer?
2 different radios? (Never mind I forgot the TS-2000 uses 2 ports for 144/440)...never understood that ....all my dual band radios only need one!... including my IC-7000 HF/VHF/UHF...same with my FT-817...one port HF/6m other port VHF/UHF...oh well...sure they have a good reason...
Feedline type? How long?
How are you testing the antenna?...
Are you sure your dummy load covers up to 500Mhz (some don't) when you test the duplexer
GL
All the Best
Gary
 
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BJ radionut said:
FREQUENCY: 144-148 MHz 435-450 MHz GAIN: 4.5 dB 7.2 dB POWER:
200 Watts
IMPEDANCE: 50 Ohms VSWR: less than 1.5:1
MAX WIND RESISTANCE: 60m/sec (135 MPH) MAST DIAMETER ACCEPTED:
30-62mm (1-1/5” to 2-2/5”) LENGTH: 1.7m (67”) WEIGHT: 0.9 kg (2.3 lbs.) CONNECTOR: UHF Female WARRANTY:
1 Year against defects in material or workmanship.

Why are you using a Duplexer?
2 different radios? (Never mind I forgot the TS-2000 uses 2 ports for 144/440)...never understood that ....all my dual band radios only need one!... including my IC-7000 HF/VHF/UHF...same with my FT-817...one port HF/6m other port VHF/UHF...oh well...sure they have a good reason...
Feedline type? How long?
How are you testing the antenna?...
Are you sure your dummy load covers up to 500Mhz (some don't) when you test the duplexer
GL
All the Best
Gary
Click to expand...



I have 2 feed lines they are davis bury flex but remember i am testing them with a MFJ mobile antenna that is blowing the pants of the diamond x50a i have swooped the to feed lines back and forth
the dummy load is a BNC 50omh terminator i had that right on my MFJ analyzer and it has a match at worst 1.2:1 got a few from old networks that used 50ohm cable and needed to be terminated.
 
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KD2GOE said:
Well it looks like i have 2 lemons the Duplexer and the antenna. Ill hope for the best and swop them out
Click to expand...
Where did you purchase from? There is counterfeit Diamond stuff out there. Same with Nagoya antennas their stuff is always pirated

Edit: Nagoya is more of a Diamond "copy" then their own brand but never less they are copied as well and the knockoff's don't work at all.
 
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Comet antennas are the same as Diamond antennas and are very good as well. My dual band Comet CA2x4-SR mobile antenna is well over a dozen years old and still works great.
 
KD2GOE said:
got the stuff from dxengineering every thing looks to be legit
Click to expand...

diamond and DX engineering have both served me well in the past... would have confidence in either...sounds like you are having a bad week... don't buy any lottery tickets for awhile... in the meantime let DX take care of it for you.
 
Got the replacement it's all set up and still a no go idk what is wrong......
with the UV-325 i get full 40+ with the diamond x50a i am getting s7
The antenna i am comparing it with is a Workman UV-325 that I had to rewind the coil and replace a cap in it.... i am at a lost...

i all so have 2 feed lines running i have swooped between the two feed lines and there the same
 

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