At 03:39 AM 7/10/2007, Paul Christensen wrote:
> >I remember Gotham quite well. I also learned the hard way that cheap was
> > not necessarily good! I bought a 4 element 15 meter yagi from them from
> > an
> > ad in QST. When I put it up I could work just as many stations off the
> > front as I could off the back and sides and with no difference in signal
> > strength! The SWR was 10 to 1 at the lowest.
>
>The beam antennas actually worked remarkably well although they certainly
>were not "Plug-'n-Play." The building experience was more akin to a
>magazine construction project with Gotham supplying most of the parts. The
>gamma match simplified things for Gotham. There wasn't a single component
>used that was custom manufactured.
There's a lot to be said for antennas that don't require any fiddling
out of the box, especially if they're a kit. Consider, for instance,
the Alpha Delta series of multiband dipoles. The plastic bag has a
bunch of AWG14 house wire, the center insulator, and a bunch of
spacers. All precut. You spend a few minutes assembling the pieces,
hoist it into the air, and it works reasonably well (i.e. the match
isn't terrible, etc.)
Yes, one could go to Home Depot and buy your own wire, measure it and
cut it. You could improvise something for a center insulator and
spacers, just like shown in the ARRL handbook, etc.
However, if you're a new ham, not real confident, it's nice to have
the alternative of just forking out a few bucks and getting something
that you know will work ok. And, if you're short on scrounging time
like many hams today are, the savings in time alone is probably worth
the $100 or so.
Likewise the Hustler 6BTV sort of trapped vertical. Lay it out on
the floor, assemble it according to the dimensions in the book, and
it will be reasonably well tuned for the bands. Sure, one can find a
better antenna, one can certainly build a more specialized antenna,
but for someone who just wants metal in the air, it's not bad.
Although.. today, with autotuners, I'd almost say you're better off
just throwing up any old dipole, even with uneven legs, put the tuner
at the feedpoint, and be done with it. But that's a several hundred
dollars solution, not a $100 one.\
Jim, W6RMK
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