Glad you made this video, Only got my one a little while ago. I was thinking it was good but not great until you said that your ft-857 works better. I can receive good, but tx is only 5w. Must pass my intermediate so I can push more power. Take care, 73
MrSnowMen I’m hearing lots of stations and more repeaters with this antenna works good on ft817 but with the 857 you can push more power so I could get a few more distance repeaters
you all prolly dont give a shit but does anyone know of a tool to log back into an instagram account? I was dumb forgot the login password. I love any help you can offer me!
@Gerardo Romeo Thanks so much for your reply. I found the site thru google and im trying it out now. Takes quite some time so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
I agree Jez great antenna. Are u going to stick it on a long pole for base use? Or maybe portable use? Great channel jez your videos are getting better and better all the time mate.
@@2j4ez Hello :) You read my thoughts, yes I need an antenna to my Yaesu FT-70DE and I am very divided which one will better to this radio, X-30 or X-50. You know, this small Yaesu it is not a stationary radio and I little worry to connect it to a stationary antenna - I am just not sure how good is the receiver in FT-70. An exmample: if you connect low quality HT, to a stationary antenna, you will hear a few stations on the same frequency, even they talking on a different channels. Sorry, my English is very weak and maybe the explanation above sounds not clear. You are really inteligent person and true enthusiast of ham radio hobby. Best regards to you and thank you for contact :)
@@Ishowyouit as far as i can tell the difference between the the x30 and x50 is the gain the x50 has better gain and the connector is different N type. not sure what its like on digital as i'm not near any digital repeaters
What's your call sign might of spoken to you on gb30y or gb3nl as I use those often..spoken to m7mrf Marc a fair few times...I'm in the market for an antenna as such would you say this is a good antenna or can you recommend another same size but better range?
Hi jez had to subscribe, im just about to sit my foundation licence, I was going to get a yaesu FT-2900 and the diamond your are reviewing, would you go for a better radio, it will be my first you see, love your videos 73s
hi thanks for subscribing. is the radio dual band or only 2m (144-146) ? if i was going to get a first radio i would get a dual band radio that way you can use 2m and 70cm bands
www.ebay.com/itm/Metal-Portable-Home-Heavy-Duty-Bike-Repair-Stand-Adjustable-Height-Rack-Tool-/191756048096?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286. This is what he has
Try and mount it as high as possible. You could also try some 2m ft8. You might be surprised how far you get at this time of the year on 5w. Can you get into LU (Luton)? 73 G7GGW
So the X-50 N is a decent antenna, but as you converted the connector to a PL259, why not just order the X-50 which comes with the PL259 to start with, the "N" designates a type N connector. Also the X-50 C, designates "Commercial" or business band which raises the freq range slightly to work in the 150/450 mhz range. Antenna should be at least 1 wavelength above ground for best swr, Also when you test the antennas please test also the swr at 150 and 467 mhz for those of us who also have interest in Bb, or Gmrs, thanks. 73s
When you say meant to work higher, because of the C for commercial, does that mean it’s tuned differently so the lower end of the band will have worse SWR?
This antenna should not need any swr adjustments mine I just plugged in the cable to the antenna and the radio and I was good to go which radio are you going to use it on??
@@2j4ez Retevis RT95. I have a man cave so would like to set everything up in there. Ideally fix the antenna to the side if possible. Will get a bike stand from Halfords tomorrow and see how it performs as a free standing unit first. Any advice on feeder cables and lengths? Pete M7 BVK
@@Peter-sm2rs I’m using about 20m of cable and it’s thick cable and works no problems see my are the hf bands dead video I show the cable in that. Did I speak to you on a repeater Sunday?
You can connect the antenna to the ft4x with a adapter for the coax cable. I can easily reach repeaters about 20 miles away I can get even further on SSB on 2m/70cm For radio to radio on 5w can get about 10-15miles
ALL Diamonds in the N type range are Female N types, so your cable has to have a MALE N type to connect to the Diamond. Use ultra loss loss cable like Messi and Paolini Hyperflex of ULTRAFLEX. On the 70 cm band it really really makes a difference. mount the X50N as high as you can !!! EI7II.
Mount the antenna as high as possible. A poor antenna at great height will perform better than a good antenna at low height. My Diamond X300N at 15 feet opens a repeater on 433MHz with 5 watts that is 68 miles away. My Diamond X510N at a tripod mount 1 meter above ground is unable to open the same repeater. EI7II.
Dzidris Iya some radios you buy only have s0239 on them my 2/7 mobile radio has. But my ft857d has both sockets n type and so239 s0239 for hf Ntype for uhf/vhf
Good video and hope you don't mind me making a comment or two which may be beneficial for anyone watching and with limited previous experience with such commercial aerials. I have some experience with this make and model and in use for over 30 years. I would like to say that by stating that it is something to "play with" might send a message that its inherently safe in all respects and from a Health and Safety perspective. May I point out that the steel radials are quite a hazard and should if possible be attached after fixing the main vertical element. They could take an eye out easily and maybe fitting corks to the ends would have demonstrated this hazard for the purpose of the video.
Does it makes a different when you buy a 5 foot , 7 gain antenna commet 100 bucks vs a 30 inch 2-3 gain antenna for 40 dollars, in range and quality sound and also for the specific frequency
People talk about this antenna but no one is comparing it to other antennas.. I got a Diamond X50 and I lost 3 to 4 bars on my meter compared to a Workman UV-325 I put mine on an antenna analyzer too and it gave me the same readings.. I sent the X50 back 2 times on the sec time they had there tech look at it. When I got it back still was 3 to 4 bars less then my Workman UV-325 still. I'm still MAD! $75 to ship this thing there and back what a Freaking Waste of money. sorry for my rant but Diamond did not handle it well and refused to make it right. The Workman UV-325 is a Mobile antenna half the size of the x50. the UV-325 is the same as a Tram 1180 here is a link to my A/B test imgur.com/a/TbUfqIW
I must admit, I'm not overly impressed with my X-50. Like you, I've found that some signals are down an s-point or two compared to other antennas. With mine, I've also found the SWR to be a bit higher than I would expect on the 2 meter band. I'm getting a reading of around 2:1 at 145.525.
As a follow up to the problems I have been having with my X-50, apparently, from looking on the internet I'm not alone. There are a few people reporting the antenna not receiving signals so well and the SWR being high particularly on the 2 meter band. Turns out that the problem is due to a tiny disc ceramic capacitor (4.7pf) inside the base of the aerial. This capacitor is tiny and rated at 500 volt, which sounds a lot, but with VHF/UHF frequencies really isn't. Some sites selling the X-50 say it's good for up to 200 watts, others sat 150 watts, I personalty would say much, much lower, as this tiny capacitor just doesn't seem up to the job.
Don't you know that you should identify yourself when transmitting? Learn how to fit an N-type connector. PL259s are crap at 430 MHz. Adaptors cause problems unless you use quality ones such as Greenpar.
