Diamond BB7 Review: a Perfect Back Yard Portable Antenna for HOA, POTA, or any Quick Deployment

Lets review the features of the Diamond BB7. This is a Perfect Back Yard Portable Vertical Multiband Antenna for HOA, POTA, or any Quick Deployment

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#HOAHam #Diamond #BB7

[robhorsch]

Excellent review, Bob. I set this up in my backyard and worked S51DX right out of the box, first try! Tunes great across all of the bands. But, it is clearly less efficient than other choices - convenience vs efficiency is sometimes a good trade-off. I get out better on the other antennas I have in every a/b comparison in real time. At a local park by a lake, I could hear dx on 20m well, but they did not come back to repeated calls on the bb7v. Switched a 20m hamstick dipole up 8 feet - and got several EU stations on the first try, including a station who could not hear me on the bb7v. Same for tests at home, compared to a horizontal wire and a center loaded 20 m whip antenna with 2 tuned radials. My 80m net heard me for check-in, but complained my signal was not up to par on the bb7v. It is beautifully made and a pleasure to handle and look at! The matching unit is very well ventilated - as it needs to be since it has a lossy 6:1 unun and heavy duty termination resistors to dump reflected power as heat. 73, N7RLV

[Stingray]

Wow, this is a first for me, hearing a familiar ham operator on a YouTube video. At 5:18, it’s Lauro in Italy! I’ve worked him twice lately and logged on QRZ. Who knows? Maybe someone has a YouTube video with a QSO with me. 73s guys!!
KJ5GIH 🤘😎🇺🇸

[radioaxe]

Thanks for posting. I am a fan of this antenna as well for the reasons you mentioned as well. Love the Diamond buil quality. I am seriously considering a permanent base installation 😀 73...

[kennethherring]

Thanks Bob for the demonstration video. For someone who may ne living in a small space that limits the length of a dipole like myself, this antenna would be an excellent option. Easy to set up and take down. It would also serve well during a Field Day event or any radio event for that matter.

[princearthur]

You are the best Ham radio tutorial/vlogger I have found so far! Thank you for such excellent presentations!

[briantrask]

Hi Bob, I need something that I can put up when I want to operate and take down when I am done. After watching your video I decided to order one of these and give it a try. I also ordered that flag pole from Amazon. Thanks for the demonstration .

[__]

I got I a BB7V for about 2 years now, and I'm a big fan.

I live right in the middle of Munich / Germany in the second floor of an apartment building with a tiny garden.
I can't set up any fixed antennas.
When I want to operate I throw the cable out the window and set up the BB7V fixed to a small tripod.
The whole procedure does take less than 10 minutes.

Although I am surrounded by high buildings, the BB7V enabled me to work stations all over Europe, lots of stateside contacts on several bands and even Japan on 17m (over 9.100km).

The antenna may be a compromise, especially on 80m and funny enough also on 10m, although it is nearly a perfect 5/8 wave on 10, but it does for me what no other antenna could.
It brings me on all the bands from 80 to 10 in a super confined space and ham radio hostile environment, and it does it in no time at all.

To flee the city QRM I do a lot of portable and mobile work but at home the BB7V is my only antenna and I absolutely love it.
I would buy it again and again, absolutely recommend it.

[auto]

Seems like a viable option. The ground spike flag holder is something I might be able to use for my mast as well.

[LarryButler-kpse]

Glad I live in a trailer park... I've run single band copper water pipes along the length of my 70X14' raised steel ground plane for decades. 40M has 3 nylon guys. 75M has #10 copper wire from the feedpoint to 1/4 wave up an oak with 50KV insulator. Each 23-32 ohm serious feedpoint impedance has a toroid autotransformer to raise the feedpoint to 50 ohms at the legal limit. The 4 amplifiers in my modified TenTec Hercules II linear is quite happy at 15V at 125A from a bank of CaOH 600AH wet cell Edison cells I saved from destruction in 1977. Calcium Hydroxide cells never wear out if you replace the electrolyte every 10-15 years. You just don't want to move them. A 9 ft grand piano weighs less. They are stored under the house to vent off the hydrogen. I sold off my twin 4-1000A linear years ago....
73 DE W4CSC "Power is our friend!"

[doc]

$425? Take a 33ft fiberglass pole. Attach 25’ of wire terminating in a 4:1 unun. Add some radials. Done. Unun cost $30. Mast 50-100. Plus the mast gives you many more options.

[jasonhowell]

I have to say with this antenna and any others like it they do perform reasonably well on 20m and thats about it, most of the reviews you will see based on this type of antenna are all being tested on 20m why not any of the other bands i wonder why? lol. I do own one and i was dissapointed, i should of known better, well built with quality materials, if you are looking for a non radial vertical for 20m then this is for you.

[WERX]

I would love to see the same antenna set up and worked against a radial field. The radials could be below the grass. Just a thought.

[mikev]

Galvanized steel pipe required is a 3/4 by 36 inch. Made a mistake and got the 1 inch diameter.

[lawrencemd]

Do you have a MFJ vs chameleon whip antenna video?

[KJRZOnTheAir]

Nice antenna. I’ll have to add it to my list of antennas…

[WHJBill]

I wonder how the Diamond BB7 would stack up to say an antenna that doesn't require a tuner, say like a DX Commander. The DX Commander Expidition only has at most 5 bands depending on how you configure it, 40M (and thus 15M), 30M (or 17M), 20M, and 10M, but that is without a tuner and you can set up and take down inside of 15 minutes for portable (MUST less if you just collapse the mast and don't worry about nicely coiling up the wires).

[lennymarinello]

Hi Bob,
Great video. I just received my BB7V and was wondering how long of a piece of pipeing did you use to attach to the BB7V brackets. I must admit after watching your video, I purchased all componenets. Cant wait to put it up. Too much snow on the ground now.

[thecarys]

Looking like a possibility for RV portable ops and my ft891/mfj939y, with the flag pole stake.

[frankireland]

How critical is using an external antenna tuner instead of the tuner built into my Kenwood TS450SAT?

[brianjohnson]

Curious what size pipe you mounted the antenna to? I’m trying to recreate this setup.