On Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:07:12 EDT, K7LXC@aol.com wrote:
>True, but for the very incremental improvement the 3L is cheaper and
>works practically as well. A viewpoint endorsed by me and Mike, K7IR, the
>inventor and manufacturer of the SteppIR antennas.
Yes. I looked at performance specs, cost, turning radius, weight, and wind
loading. The performance difference is about 1 dB between 3 and 4 elements.
The differences in weight and wind loading add to the cost of an
installation in one form or another (more robust tower installation, less
reliability in bad weather, harder for the man on the tower to handle the
heavier antenna). To me it was a no-brainer, and I went with the 3-el Yagi,
and got that 1dB back by feeding it with hard line.
I didn't buy the 30/40M trombone, both because I wanted to minimize weight
and wind loading, and because I already have really good antennas for those
bands. At my QTH, the key issues are height (if it isn't high, it won't get
over the ridge to the north and east) and turning radius (it was REALLY hard
to find a spot where I could fit the 19.5 ft turning radius). Mine is on 120
ft of Rohn 25, 1 cu yd of concrete, four sets of guys. It's been up for a
little over a month, and I'm a VERY happy camper.
73,
Jim K9YC
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