I have had a DPD Productions Omni-X antenna for a couple years and it has performed fairly well, but not quite as well as I had hoped. For a couple years it was up in the attic and then about 6 months ago I mounted the Omni-X outside on the side of my house. I tried a couple orientations and I think the original one (elements facing E-W seemed to work best for me.
A few months in it seemed to lose some performance, I don’t really know why but I was no longer able to hear the Flagstaff or Tucson WX stations (I like to use NOAA stations as beacons for performance measuring). It could be propagation changes when the weather warms or perhaps there was something else going on. I replaced the Omni-X with an ST-2 and expected a huge difference, there wasn’t. I also replaced the lightning arrestor, that had no effect.
So in thinking about it I suspect the Omni-X was actually performing slightly better than my ST-2 and I have been considering putting it back up. I decided however to do some research and when looking at the DPD website they actually have 3 versions of the “X” type antenna:
As I am impressed by the build quality of the Omni-X that I have I decided to try one of the others to compare. Since as far as I could tell from the pictures and descriptions the “Air” and “Mil” versions were the same I decided to get a MilTenna Omni. It arrived a couple days later and I compared the physical dimensions with my Omni-X.
The stem was the same on both: about 34.5 inches. The coax length was indeed a few inches shorter on the Omni. The 2 longer elements on both were the same: 22.5 inches) but the “Mil” version had longer short elements at 21 inches vs. 17.5 on the “Omni”.
The one that surprised me was the size on the metal shafts in which the elements attach. I almost didn’t notice but the “Mil” version shafts were 9 inches vs 7 for the “Omni”.
I don’t know for sure at this point whether this will make much of a difference, but I suspect that with slightly longer shafts and elements I might get more capture area and somewhat better performance.
It will be a bit before I am able to mount the MilTenna Omni, it is going to be above 110 degrees for the next couple weeks or so. I plan on removing the ST-2 and replacing the plastic pipe used as a mast. I want to try to find a metal one instead but also want to find a solution to reduce the diameter of the mast where the antenna mounts, the plastic pipe is too large to properly attach the brackets. I am using a satellite dish mount, and the ID is quite a bit larger than a standard antenna mast. When I remove it I will figure a way to reduce to a smaller size, probably involving inserting a smaller pipe into the larger and using the bolts holding the pipe to the bracket to secure it. That however is a project for Future Rich when we get a break in the heat around here.
If anyone here has an “Air Omni and can measure the elements and shaft please let me know, I am curious if they are actually the same as the MilTenna Omni.
A few months in it seemed to lose some performance, I don’t really know why but I was no longer able to hear the Flagstaff or Tucson WX stations (I like to use NOAA stations as beacons for performance measuring). It could be propagation changes when the weather warms or perhaps there was something else going on. I replaced the Omni-X with an ST-2 and expected a huge difference, there wasn’t. I also replaced the lightning arrestor, that had no effect.
So in thinking about it I suspect the Omni-X was actually performing slightly better than my ST-2 and I have been considering putting it back up. I decided however to do some research and when looking at the DPD website they actually have 3 versions of the “X” type antenna:
- Omni-X
- MilTenna Omni
- Air Omni
As I am impressed by the build quality of the Omni-X that I have I decided to try one of the others to compare. Since as far as I could tell from the pictures and descriptions the “Air” and “Mil” versions were the same I decided to get a MilTenna Omni. It arrived a couple days later and I compared the physical dimensions with my Omni-X.
The stem was the same on both: about 34.5 inches. The coax length was indeed a few inches shorter on the Omni. The 2 longer elements on both were the same: 22.5 inches) but the “Mil” version had longer short elements at 21 inches vs. 17.5 on the “Omni”.
The one that surprised me was the size on the metal shafts in which the elements attach. I almost didn’t notice but the “Mil” version shafts were 9 inches vs 7 for the “Omni”.
I don’t know for sure at this point whether this will make much of a difference, but I suspect that with slightly longer shafts and elements I might get more capture area and somewhat better performance.
It will be a bit before I am able to mount the MilTenna Omni, it is going to be above 110 degrees for the next couple weeks or so. I plan on removing the ST-2 and replacing the plastic pipe used as a mast. I want to try to find a metal one instead but also want to find a solution to reduce the diameter of the mast where the antenna mounts, the plastic pipe is too large to properly attach the brackets. I am using a satellite dish mount, and the ID is quite a bit larger than a standard antenna mast. When I remove it I will figure a way to reduce to a smaller size, probably involving inserting a smaller pipe into the larger and using the bolts holding the pipe to the bracket to secure it. That however is a project for Future Rich when we get a break in the heat around here.
If anyone here has an “Air Omni and can measure the elements and shaft please let me know, I am curious if they are actually the same as the MilTenna Omni.
