Antenna Switch Summary by NJ2L Thanks to all for the input. Here's the summary. Some of it was surprising to me. You be the judge: ____________________ The best switches I have are both 5 position. I have a HOFI with N connectors and a Singer MIl Spec Model (also N) that I got from Don, N4IN. You might check with Jack, K4MZW at Electronic Switch (ESCO) if he knows where the remaining HOFI switches are and if ESCO continued to make their own (to HOFI specs). These will be $200 plus so be prepared, but the loss and isolation is worth a DB at 6 meters asnd nearly that at 160 meters. ESCO might be willing to make 6 position, too. ESCO 8491 Hospital Drive Suite 328 Douglasville, GA 30134 sales@eswitch.com http://www.eswitch.com ______________________ Keep looking at the hamfests for Bird switches. ______________________ I am using a Top Ten Devices 6 way relay box to switch my antennas with their computer control box but you can just buy the relay box and switch with 12 volts with a simple rotary switch in the shack. Even if you have 6 feedlines in the shack you can just mount the relay box behind the table and use a short control cable. Of course you can just run a 7 wire control cable out to the antennas and just use 1 feedline to the shack. If you need more info contact them or me here and I'll give you more info. _______________________ DuneStar has a nice switch, but it's expensive. Look at http://www.dunestar.com/dunestar/ Ron the owner puts out a nice product. _______________________ I just bought the B&W 6 position switch in the rectangular box but it has not arrived yet. When it does I am going to put it on the network analyzer to check the isolation. If it performs as well as the B&W lowpass TVI filter I will be very happy. A friend gave me one to measure and it had excellent matches in and out as well as the filter shape. The box feels like there is nothing in it but it is an excellent filter. Hopefully the guy that designed the filter also did their switch. I should have results this week. ________________________ I have tried all of the referenced switches. The B/W, although feeling light-weight seems to have the best reliability as I've been using the same switch with 6 positions for 15 years. It has been stored in outdoor sheds during times of neglect (off the air) and still performs well. The Diawa CS-201, 2 position switch seems to have the best isolation and I use it for selecting rigs. The Alpha Delta Delta-4 gets Cheers and Jeers. My first one suffered a direct-hit and the surge protector fused to the inside - No charge for repairs hence = CHEERS! Functionally this same switch shorts ANT 1 and ANT 4 together although it's not supposed to. This reduces the switch to a two position switch (ANT 2 & ANT 3). I felt that considering the damage sustained that I should give then another chance and I bought another. Alpha-Delta Delta-4 #2 is also dispointing. The knob had to be tightened before I could install it and when I connected to antenna #4 I found that the positin was open! I decided to open up the first switch, although Alpha Delta advises against it and was somewhat shocked to see what I had paid for. I am very disappointed in the design and quality of this product at this time. I would like to hear if others have had similar problems with these switches or if it's just me! ______________________ I am facing this same issue. Have just about decided it is cheaper to buy an RCS-8V or a Top Ten relay box instead. ______________________ I use Transco relays that switch up to 6 antennas. They are easily found at hamfests and Joel , at the RF connection in Gaithersburg, Md. Usually has used ones in stock. They'll handle gobs of power and you can switch them with a surplus Ameritron 24vdc switch box or any 28vdc power supply/switch unit. It's much easier to switch by pushing a button than to manually turn a switch and it eliminates all the ugly coax cables inside the shack. _________________________ The B&W are just normal wafer switches that ground the unused inputs. I found that the swr was worse on the end inputs than on the ones closer in. The isolation is also not so good. The Alpha delta and daiwas use a better switch arrangement that gives much more isolation. ______________________ I like the B&W inline ones. I have owned one for years and used to use it all the time - when I had a station. We also use them at 6D2X. ______________________ It depends on what you want to do. And yes - MFJ is not an option!!! If you want something which will see light duty (ie not a lot of back & forth action) the Daiwa's are fine (I've never used an Alpha Delta!!), However, the contacts seem to begin "not making" if they are switched a great deal. Even though the isolation isn't as good, I still like my good old B&W - I've never seen one go bad, and you can switch them around all day long!! _________________________ I'd consider the Top Ten decoder/relay box combination if you're stuck considering a new purchase. ______________________ I know you said manually operated switches....but maybe I'm just a real lazy type..but what I've done is to use the DX Engineering Coax switch box that usually goes out on the tower and set it over in the corner and use it. Just flip the switch on the control box and I can hear the switches move and it changes fast & easy. Burned up the MFJ's and the Daiwa's and others seemed to always fail during a test or some rare DX that I was lusting after. Using a remote coax switch inside the shack seems silly..but it works very well and is very reliable. _______________________ > I'll include your info in the summary. By the way, what does DX > Engineering get for the boxes? NOt sure of the current prices. Haven't needed to buy one for while. Are they still available? DX Engineering has scaled back and now rarely makes any antennas, but makes the coax switch boxes, phasing/matching boxes and the Quadrature boxes for 4-squares. Do you know whether they have a Web site? No Web site. In fact DX Engineering is Bill, N0XX/7 who produces the boxes during spare time he might scare up from his regular, full time job. His phone # is 541-466-3138 and E-mail is billsat@proaxis.com. ________________________ Yes, I still make 5 port coax switches with indoor control unit for $195. They're a bit higher than the "competition" but last a lot longer and better built. I make a 6 port remote only for use with the computerized drivers, but don't make the automatic switching devices. Wish that DX Solutions still did,they were the best at a fair price. ETO bought the product, but never got around to making it. If you can find one used, they're real nice. Delivery depends on backlog, right now I'm a week to two behind, hoping to get caught up soon. Thanks for the inquiry, please let me know if you have any other questions. Bill Sattler N0XX/7 ________________________ That's it for now. Please chime in if you have other thoughts. --73, Rus, NJ2L -- CQ-Contest on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/_cq-contest/ Administrative requests: cq-contest-REQUEST@contesting.com