On 12/25/2014 10:50 PM, Sid Wood via KRnet wrote: > Any dipole antenna design that requires ferrite toroids is wasting > transmitter power due to the mismatch between the rf cable and the > antenna elements.
Maybe so, but Jim Weir has been advocating this design for probably 30 years, lots of them are flying in KRs and many other glass airplanes, and they work just fine. Joe Horton and I have both talked up to 200 miles apart on a quiet frequency, and that's good enough for me. The beauty of this design is that it weighs practically nothing, costs practically nothing, can be built at home in a matter of minutes, fits perfectly into space that is otherwise empty on the KR, and it WORKS. If it's wasting a little energy, I'm fine with that...it's good enough for KR work. If the concern is that it's difficult to get the antenna kit anymore, that's easily solved by somebody buying a few 100' rolls of copper foil tape and a bag of toroids, and selling those kits themselves. But my guess is that Jim doesn't just sit on these orders for several weeks before he ships them...he probably went on vacation or got stuck in the hospital or was indisposed in some way that put a hitch in the orders for a while, but I doubt this is the usual mode of operation. Mark Langford ML at N56ML.com http://www.n56ml.com
