I've owned a Diamond for 3 years now. I've never seen the A/W unit.I
don't know what materials it is constructed with, so I cannot give an
opinion. However, I have experienced 2 major weather challenges to the
Diamond in those 3 years that, in my mind, makes it worthy of praise.

Three years ago, we had several days of 70+ MPH winds; my R/S discone
had radials that blew off and which I found some 500' away from the
antenna. Some of the radials broke off at the area where the stud is
crimped into the end of the radial. Some radials even got bent in the
winds! When it came time to replace the R/S discone, that's when I
bought the Diamond.

I was one of the folks who recently got evacuated in the SoCal fires.
Here again, the antenna withstood 50+ MPH winds for 2 days without
anything being out of place. When I installed the radials into the
Diamond base, the Allen screws actually "squeeked" as I torqued them
into the radials; they're not coming out! In 50+ MPH winds and after two
days of a firestorm, I returned to my home [still intact, thank you CDF
et. al!] and the antenna was there waiting for me.

Again, I cannot vouch for the integrity of the A/W unit. If you live
somewhere that has no adverse weather...ever...try the A/W unit. My
house and utimately...my life was at stake during the week of October
26th. The Diamond held up, gave me the ability to hear the CDF and how
the fire was acting. It probably saved my life and I'd recommend it to
anyone! Diamond's URL is listed below. They have a toll-free #. I'd call
them up and ask them what their antenna is made of and compare that with
what you are told from A/W. Then, make up your own mind.

http://www.rfparts.com/


Alain in Valley Center, California

Frank Bals wrote:

I'm wondering how it compares to the Diamond D130-J which is almost the
exact same design. The HF/VHF/UHF Super Discone runs around 1/2 the cost of
the Diamond. Does it perform just as well?

Frank



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