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The Dominator

We've used the Dominator for about three weeks. In many ways, it's an amazing antenna, particularly when it comes to hills. Our coverage takes in quite a few hills and valleys and the Dominator's signal seems to get in nearly everywhere. So far the VSWR has remained steady at 1:1. I used a Nano VNA to tune it. Build quality is very good. At this point, I'm happy with this antenna.
 
mpx said:
The first one - an original from Norwalk.
One day the transmitter suddenly started going off and on as the SWR jumped up and down. Upon inspection there seemed to have been some arcing inside the connector. Could have been lightning perhaps, so we bought a new one, this time from Progressive Concepts.

The new one, after about 18 months, suddenly jumped in SWR from 1.0 to 2.1

When we took it down, everything looked okay, the antenna was just weathered (dull metal and not shiny). Tuning on site would not produce a good match. It's now back in the workshop where we will attempt to retune it for a 1:1 SWR.

I will report back shortly...

Performance-wise it is very good, when it is working correctly. The newer version seems more sturdy, especially where the radiator meets the connector.

For now at least, we are using a CP antenna.
Click to expand...
Last year, a local translator had the power flickering up/down like a candle, it was acting as if something was broken and the power kept being turned up manually every few minutes, after gradually getting lower. It eventually dropped off altogether to prevent further damage.

After it came back on, I heard from them it was a bad connector but maybe it was just loose after all. The cost to replace/tighten it? $10,000 for a tower crew, and shame on the first crew for not tightening it properly if that's what happened. :(
 
Bad RF connectors seem to be fairly common with the Dominator.....Water seeps into the fitting and causes problems....
Random high SWR readings (until the moisture dries out)....On one unit I tested, I found corrosion from water seepage...
The latest iteration of NWE-34s has stainless steel RF connectors vs the original stamped aluminum.....and a better weather-resistant seal.
Several other parts have also been replaced with SS.....
The original Dominator was made by Sirio of Italy.....Don't know about the newest models....
 
Oldie919 said:
Bad RF connectors seem to be fairly common with the Dominator.....Water seeps into the fitting and causes problems....
Random high SWR readings (until the moisture dries out)....On one unit I tested, I found corrosion from water seepage...
The latest iteration of NWE-34s has stainless steel RF connectors vs the original stamped aluminum.....and a better weather-resistant seal.
Several other parts have also been replaced with SS.....
The original Dominator was made by Sirio of Italy.....Don't know about the newest models....
Click to expand...

The original dominator was made by Norwalk Electronics of.. Norwalk, CT. The then owner of Norwalk, Don.. helped me built my pirate station back in 2004, but i didnt have a dominator, i had to use something else because of space constraints
 
We had a pretty active thunderstorm last night. A lot of lightning. Next morning I went to the transmitter site and the Dominator was fine. No change in the VSWR nor any change in signal strength. Using binoculars, I looked at the connector. It was still wrapped and intact and it seemed dry. The antenna wasn't damaged, surprisingly. It was still performing as it should.
 
I think I figured out the conundrum regarding the Dominator. The conundrum being, why is it that those who extoll the Dominator’s strengths end up switching to another antenna when they upgrade? When my LPFM station signed on in September of last year, we were using the Dominator antenna. Without a doubt, its ability to cover difficult terrain was incredible. Our transmitter was showing a VSWR of 1:1. It handled one storm okay. But then we had a severe storm in January. After the storm, the transmitter showed a VSWR of 2.5:1, and was automatically reducing power to compensate. I checked every connector and every inch of the coax for water intrusion and other issues but there were none. I then tried to re-tune the Dominator but the VSWR only reduced slightly. Eventually, I switched to a wideband folded dipole and the VSWR returned to 1:1. We just had another severe storm two weeks ago and the dipole handled it well. The VSWR remained at 1:1. So, I’m thinking that the Dominator’s prime weakness appears to be tuning, particularly after experiencing severe weather. The dipole’s coverage is very good, but not quite as good as a properly tuned Dominator. The transmitter is happy, however, and running at the proper power output.
 
The Dominator's female RF connector was a weak link in early models.....I had 2 that ultimately leaked and had to be waterproofed with Coax-Seal.
The latest Dominator units are built with stainless steel, rather than aluminum, in several key spots -- including the RF connector!!
If you live in an area that gets snow, the base of the "cone" can collect wet snow and ice and cause VSWR problems. The good news here is that the antenna
generally sheds the mess quite quickly.......
 


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