Diamond X50 Antenna Measurements

Purpose

A friend loaned me his Diamond X50 antenna for use in the next APRS Golden Packet event.

To be sure of optimal performance I put this antenna on a speaker stand and measured the reflection parameters with a VNA.

The Diamond X50 on test stand

Here is the antenna as it will be hiked into the mountains for the next Golden Packet event using a commercial speaker stand.

SWR and Return Loss of Diamond X50 antenna

Click the graph for a larger view of the SWR and Return Loss at both 2m and 440 band segments. Note the grey boxes show relevant frequency ranges and desired reflection values.

Conclusions

This example of the Diamond X50 antenna certainly works very well across the entire 2m band. It covers the FM segment of 70cm as well although the reflection parameters are likely hindered by the less than optimal SO-239 connector on the antenna.

Better is the enemy of good enough and this antenna packs a lot in a small package. This should work quite well for Station 6 of the APRS Golden Packet replacing my individual 2m and 440 antennas and make life simpler… so I can do some SOTA as well 😉