In a message dated 10/27/06 7:33:23 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] ink.net writes:
> Even honestly described and advertised HF verticals without a very very > very good radial system are terrible performers compared to a simple dipole. I disagree! The situation is much more complex than that. Commercial *portable* verticals are especially so, and are also usually absurdly > expensive. An example of a money and power waster is the Outbacker-series > with their "ground coupling" base for portable use. It is one of those $400 > "systems" that performs very poorly, compared to a $5 dipole. I've done > side-by-side testing of both on several occasions. > Of course a lossy antenna system - vertical or not - will be bested by an efficient one. There's also the factor of pattern. Verticals are often sold as "great for local or DX". And they are - local (up to a few miles) via ground wave, and DX (beyond 1-2 thousand miles) by low-angle radiation. But for everything in between, a dipole is better. > I was tempted to repeat the old saw about there being no such thing as a > free lunch, but that would be wrong. The simple dipole is very close to > being > free, and it will normally way outperform any HF vertical no matter how much > money is dumped into some expensive "exotic" or bogus design. > Again, "it depends". For example, a quarter wave vertical on 20 meters is only 16 feet high. With its base a few feet off the ground, and a dozen sloping radials, it will do as well or better as a dipole 40-50 feet up - *if* it's in a wide-open location. I built such a vertical for portable use from EMT and PVC, and have had great success with it on Field Day. OTOH, a loaded 80 meter vertical with a few radials isn't going to compete with a decent dipole. 73 de Jim, N2EY _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
