Diamond CP610 Antenna

[KA0XR]

Does anyone have any experience using the Diamond CP610 dual band 6m/10m antenna? If so how well does it perform being a dual band vertical for these lower frequencies (vs. the common 2m/440 verticals)? The eham reviews are pretty positive but a 6 and 10 meter antenna is a rare combination.

Also, anyone with experience using this antenna model on the 20/15/12 meter bands? Based on eham reviews the antenna SWR on these lower bands is OK but requires an antenna tuner. Any insight would be much appreciated!

 

[vagrant]

I am interested in feedback as well for that antenna, but I would not use it to transmit on 20, 15, and 12 meter bands as it is more than likely terribly inefficient there. I would use that tuner money on an Off Center Fed, or EFHW (End Fed Half Wave) antenna.

 

[popnokick]

It's all going to depend on what you want to do on 6 Meters. 6 is the band where polarization (vertical vs. horizontal) starts becoming very important... and is especially true the higher you go in frequency. So.... if your plan is to work 6M mobile stations (which are almost all vertical, unless you are considering 6M "rovers" during VHF contests... which are often horizontal)..... then a 6M vertical is perfect for the stations you want to work. HOWEVER, if your main modes of operation (planned operation) are SSB or FT8 / FT4 on 6M.... then a vertically polarized antenna is going to be very disappointing. If the latter modes (SSB, FT8 digital and other horizontally polarized modes) are what you plan on working on 6 Meters.... stick with an Off-Center Fed Dipole, 6M "squalo", or better... a 6M beam.

 

[KA0XR]

Thanks for the responses. My idea was mainly to use the antenna during band openings on 10 and 6 meters, at which point polarization wouldn't matter as much, while hoping to be able to pick up a couple of the upper HF bands. It sounds like without a tuner this might not be a good idea.
Unfortunately there is very little 6 or 10 meter activity locally where I'm at.

Maybe using a horizontal antenna like a squalo or loop instead of a vertical would mean a greater footprint, and result in more success finding locally distant stations vs. a long vertical like the Diamond. Alternatively, would a dedicated monoband 6 meter 5/8 wave ground-plane like the Sirio Tornado work OK on 15 meters (the 11' length computes to a 1/4 wave on 21 MHz)?

 

[popnokick]

Vertical antennas designed and sold for use on CB work fine on CB.... and usually 10 Meters. But fuggeddaboutit on other ham bands. You can force anything with a tuner, but you will do much better with a vertical or horizontal antenna designed for the ham bands. Why are so many hams force-fitting CB verticals into bands other than 10 or 11 Meters? It's very inefficient. Based on your two prior posts here, I'm going to assume you can't put up a horizontal wire antenna? (If you can, I agree with vagrant that an OCFD of EFHW is the way to go for multi-band operation at lower cost.)
Regarding 1/4 wave vertical antennas: They require ground radials to function properly. On 10M and 6M... and higher bands... the radials are relatively short, and mounting a 1/4 wave vertical with radials on a roof or tower is very commonly done and works well. But when you get down below 10M (e.g. 15M and lower frequencies) the radials become quite long. And the 1/4 wave verticals designed for those bands work best as ground-mounted verticals with lots of quarter wave radials attached. There ARE multi-band verticals that are not 1/4 wave antennas and are effective when ground mounted, e.g. the Diamond KV-5, Cushcraft R-8, Hy-Gain AV-640, Cushcraft R-6000... and more. They cost much more than the multi-band OCFD and EFHW wire antennas. But if you're putting up a ham radio antenna get one that does as many bands as you can afford.... you don't want to limit your access to just a couple of ham bands. There's a lot of activity and modes out there you'll be missing.

 

[rescue161]

I have one that worked pretty good for the local 6m repeater and 10m too, but it couldn't stand up to the winds of Hurricane Florence. It held in there, but the bottom tube bent. I could buy another section and it would be good to go, but I changed my setup to a smaller tri-band 52/146/440 and just use a wire for 10m.

It was fairly narrow band on both bands. I usually only use SSB on 10m, so the vertical didn't get used as much as I anticipated.

 

[vagrant]

That is my concern. I need wide enough for FM on the upper end and SSB below on 6 and 10m. Thanks for that.

It was fairly narrow band on both bands. I usually only use SSB on 10m, so the vertical didn't get used as much as I anticipated.

 

[rescue161]

I had to use a tuner to get full portions on each band. I want to say I only got 2 MHz out of 6m without a tuner and 1 MHz out of 10m. I had it tuned to the FM portion on 10 and one of the radials would adjust for 6. It was good for what it was, but most folks around here are all horizontally polarized for both 6 and 10, so I just changed to the tri band to be able to hit the 6m 2m and 70cm repeaters and just use a wire for everything else.

 

[RF-Burns]

I have a CP610 on my roof right now. The antenna works well on 10 and 6 meters. I have talked all over the world on both bands using FM and SSB. The antenna even tunes down to 40 Meters very easily with my MFJ-993B. I use the antenna regularly on 12, 17, and 20 as a backup to my 600ohm Ladder Line Doublet.

 

[prcguy]

The 610 is a sharply tuned antenna for 10 and 6m, any other band will be a serious compromise at best, especially using a tuner at the radio end. Whatever the loss of your coax is on 10m and 6m it could be many times worse on the other bands because coax loss specs go out the window when operated under high VSWR conditions. Plus no part of this antenna is made to cover these other bands.

I suspect the 610 works well on 10 and 6m and if you get one for those bands, use it there and enjoy it. Then get something else more appropriate for the other bands.