Great antenna you got going there on the LBM-17M+20M. The installation went great even though in WV. its hard to find flat ground! The instructions are great everything went smooth and was fun putting it together. I was worried about the side weight force; but after it was up it stressed just as you said. Right after we got it mounted Mother Nature hit us with 45-50 mph winds, but the antenna never moved. It’s a great design.
The performance of the LBM-17M+20M is great; flat swr with 100 foot of 8xu – up at least 4-7 s units from my prior beam antenna. I’m working stations out west and dx to the Caribbean that never worked before. The front db gain is outstanding and back rejection is great also.
“The two element 17 meter folded dipole antenna (LB-17M) from Light Beam Antenna is a well built, neat 21 pound directional unit. It took only two half-days to assemble the antenna. When a few questions arose during the assemble, I found that both the installation instructions and the back up support at Light Beam Antenna to be excellent. Running only 100 watts to a LDG Tuner and 450 ladder line, I receive very favorable signal reports from both U.S. and European Hams. Because of the light weight of the antenna, a less expensive rotor like the Yaesu G450A can be used.”
Wow!! Hands down this is the best antenna I have ever used. When I turned my rig on using PSK, I saw signals from all US zones (except Hawaii and Alaska) at one time. Using HRD 780 Superbrowser, I instantly filled all 20 decode channels at the same time. Pretty cool! I quickly had my first exchange with a fellow in Denmark on JT65-HF. The antenna has been performing great. I have been using Phone, JT65-HF, PSK and RTTY. A lot of Europe, Eastern Europe and Russia with the best RST’s and RSQ’s I have ever had. I have been in contact with my Air Force buddies in California and Colorado as well.
Tunes up almost at the same as do the Home Brew Quad and the Log., which makes it easy to switch. I have been given very good reports. It is very directional. (Rotor is arm-strong.) I don’t know as yet how it compares with others when the band begins to drop out. It has been very low-noise to none making it easier to use. Thanks for the design and high quality workmanship. We have had very high winds lately and it has weathered them all!
Here is a photo of the finished 15M antenna ready for testing at 12 feet before going up into the attic. All the parts arrived OK and, once started, it took about eight hours to assemble. Thanks very much for the little black marks on the wires showing where to bend them, they saved me a LOT of time. The SWR (at 12 feet) is close to ‘as advertised’.
In testing his dipole and vertical antennas against the LBM-17M+20M, Bill said: “The only new country for me is 9K2UU in Kuwait and I had a 58 signal with excellent copy. Most of the time when I call a station I get them on the first call – this is really a new thing for me… the front-to-back was excellent on the LBM 17M+20M. I believe you have hit a winning combination with this antenna. Your design looks like it is working well and it sure makes a big difference from where I started with the vertical. It looks like the LBM-17M+20M is always on top signal-wise with the dipole in second and the vertical at third place. On 17M with 100 watts I made contacts in Denmark, Poland, Russia, Belgium, Spain & Germany, getting signal reports of Q5S7 or Q5S8 each time we tested the LBM. Many times Central and South America are even larger results. It’s now possible for me to work a lot more stations with better results.”
“These numbers look wonderful! Great – beyond my wildest dreams – what a good job you did on building this antenna.”