Some antennas work great in some places and not so in others depending on ground conditions, from personal experience in granite filled Maine. 73 de Jose Douglas KB1TCD
Sent from my iPad > On Aug 4, 2020, at 5:00 AM, K8TE <billama...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Kevin is on to something when he compares antennas instantly which I assume > from his description. Most antenna anecdotes state something like "It works > much better than...I had up previously. But, both antennas aren't up and in > use at the same time. > > My good friend Alan, K0BG, puts it very well. "WORKs is an acronym which > means WithOut Real Knowledge." Why? Because the performance assertions are > not comparative like one gets when using two WSPRLit transmitters on two > antennas at the same time over time. Those data will show which antenna > performs better and how consistently better one antenna is than the other. > In every case when I compare antennas, they always out-perform one or two > others at some point in time. But, one of the three performs better on > certain bands at certain times, most, but not all of the time. > > This past Saturday, I frequently noted one dipole out-performed the other on > a specific station at a specific time, regardless of the band (40m and 20m). > I had callers answer my CQ's that I could not here on the other dipole and > that was true for both dipoles most of the time. They would "change places" > at different times for the same paths. Being able to instantly switch > between antennas (K3 with internal ATU) helped me make more contacts than if > I had just one of those dipoles, both about the same height, but at nearly > right angles to each other. When I had a vertical in the air, it would > sometimes out-perform both dipoles over the same paths. > > Every antenna "WORKS", even a dummy load with imperfect coax. Some antennas > generally out-perform others. Don't tell me yours works better than mine > without scientific proof, not anecdotes. W8JI has done a lot of antenna > modeling and on-the-air comparisons in making assertions about antennas' > performance. I recently read his statement about end-fed wires being a cult > today. He goes on to explain their failings don't appear when using QRP and > with no other antenna available for comparisons. > > As N0AX wrote, "The best antennas is the one that is up in the air." or > similar words. He also wrote the half wave dipole is simple and it works > well and makes the best first choice. I would add, the higher the better > until it's a half wavelength high. K9YC has done modeling that points this > out and debunks most of the NVIS myths that abound in which users state we > need to lower our antennas for NVIS. > > I use end-fed wires when appropriate--SOTA, POTA, and on county lines were > simplicity and rapid deployment matter more than RFI, most of which I can > mitigate or ignore. I use dipoles at home and most are resonant. I also > use WSPRLite to get scientific performance data before I assert they WORK or > which one is better. As I wrote above, I will keep both those dipoles > because they both out-perform the other at times. As my antenna farm grows, > one dipole will remain as my measurement "standard" so I can truly say my > new antenna (nothing short and shiny) out-performs my dipole. And yes, > neither is perfect so I use a tuner when necessary on certain > bands/frequencies. > > 73, Bill, K8TE > > > > -- > Sent from: http://elecraft.365791.n2.nabble.com/ > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > Message delivered to kb1...@gmail.com ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
