What do you think about this antenna?

[Athan]

"Dual Beam Pro" from ProAntennas

It is not a beam as the name might imply, neither one of those "magic" antennas; just a well made non-resonant end-loaded rotary dipole for 20,17,15,12,10 meters and tunable on 30,40 and 6m too. The best thing about this antenna is that is only five meters long, sturdy but very light (4Kg), has the gain and the clean bidirectional radiation pattern of a full l/2 dipole, doesn't make use of any lossy shorting coils and requires no tuning of the antenna itself. An antenna tuner is still needed though (rig's built-in ATU is enough on all but 30 & 40m bands).

Searching around for more info I found a few video reviews on youtube and some rave user reports on eham. Also, magazines like Radcom and Practical Wireless gave this antenna some really positive reviews.
BTW I've computer modeled the antenna and the results seem to completely agree with the manufacturer's published specifications.

Does anyone have any experience with such an antenna type?

 

[Moleculo]

I've seen a few variations on that design. It's a cap-hat loaded dipole. It will work but not as well as the full-sized thing. You for sure could have a lot of fun with it. Heck, it's larger than any mobile antenna and people have loads of fun with those. If you're short on space and something like that fits the bill, I say put it up.

 

[Athan]

Thanks for the info, Moleculo. I'm actually considering buying one of these or build it myself.

Since I moved to my new home, I'm trying to figure what to do with HF antennas. All I'm allowed to use to support an antenna is a single pole (13ft max) penetrating the tile tilt roof. No other wires, no radials, no attic stuff or anything extending beyond roof's edges, just three and half meters max turning radius available.

If i believe the reviews this "dual beam pro" antenna might do the job. Not expecting miracles though...

 

[Quiksilver]

Let us know how it works out!!

 

[Athan]

I will as soon as it's up and running.

 

[northern35s]

"Dual Beam Pro" from ProAntennas

yada yada yada


BTW I've computer modeled the antenna and the results seem to completely agree with the manufacturer's published specifications.

Does anyone have any experience with such an antenna type?

Maybe I'm just a cynic, but anyone that is able to computer model the antenna, and find exactly the same results as the manufacturer claims, doesn't really need the advice of this forum's humble users, in fact I'd go as far as to say you could write advertising copy for the manufacturer, maybe you could offer your services

Personally all I see is a shortened, probably 9:1, balun fed dipole, the losses on the coax will be horrendous and probably the reason why most internal tuners will find a match, a coax warmer and a bit of a pig in a poke :blink: