Nicely put, Tom!
> On Apr 24, 2014, at 13:28, "Tom W8JI" <[email protected]> wrote: > > The best antenna is always the one that makes us feel good, no matter how the > antenna really works. > > The problems with most of the suggestions are: > > 1.) most are anecdotal "feelings", where there were no lengthy blind A-B > tests against a known good reference antenna > > 2.) different paths and locations produce different results > > 3.) installations are often cluttered with random things that interact with > antennas. Even 400-500 feet is fairly close spacing for antennas on 160 > > Without a series of blind A-B tests against a known *good* antenna over a > period of time, it is all just feelings. I went through all the grief of > installing a 300ft plus tall tower because I remembered how well a dipole > 300ft high worked. I can't get someone to use a dipole on that tower once > they use a tall vertical with a good ground system. I can't get someone to > use the tall vertical once they use a four square. Going back over my logs > 30+ years ago, I realize the high dipole wasn't actually that good in Ohio. I > just remembered it better than it was, like a 14-15 second car that I thought > was a rocket ship. > > Someplace below the high dipole's performance come the delta loops and > sloppers. > > Of course this can be different for different regional locations. Not only > does the quality of the installation affect opinions, so does the mental > attitude of the operator and the world location. > > All that said and done, there are very few properly installed 160 meter > verticals that won't work well, and there are darned few horizontals that > will work better than good verticals, when looked at over a long period of > time. I can't even imagine trying to predict results or give advice when a > wire is stuck in between a bunch of random things, like conductive guylines > and other antennas. > > 73 Tom > _________________ > Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _________________ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
