After reading through all of the Mosley discussion have we learned anything
about antennas and the owners of them?
We can see there is still a lack of consensus as to the value of a few db, for
one thing.And, at least obvious to me, it is nearly impossible for a lone ham,
with only one tower, to judge the gain of two yagis - one that he owns now and
one he previously owned. Not taking issue with the results of the yagi
comparison that has been referred to here. In fact, let's assume for sake of
discussion some yagi is on the market that DOES have some deficiency that
results in loss amounting to something like 2 db. IS IT POSSIBLE that not just
one, but a very large number of users would not know this from on-the-air
results? Another example, so you might see where I'm going with this - say
something happened and your 1500 watt amp was only putting out 1000 watts for
the last month but you didn't know it. That's about the same as a 2 db loss.
Do you think you, and 5,000 other hams with a similar situation would have
still worked K1N? And the Cocos group? Without realizing it, you
MAY have had to call a bit longer in the pileup but you'd have gotten through,
right? So, say this was the same situation with your yagi for the past 30
years. Might you have still gotten to DXCC honor roll? I think so, for sure.
Furthermore, when the owner of such a brand new yagi installed it he would see
a dramatic change in signal strength as he rotated his yagi, and certainly a
sizable f/b. So he would beconvinced this yagi is doing a fantastic job and he
would FEEL GOOD about it. Almost no one has a reference 1/2 wave dipole, at
the same height, with which to make meaningful comparisons, and no real reason
to suspect that there would be any benefit by doing so. And dozens of his
friends might have the same antenna, and all are working dx countries by the
hundreds. In the early 80's I knew lots of guys with Classic 33s in NJ. It
was probably the most popular beam going, and the results were exactly as
described above. (I want to be sure you get my point, so an
other example is....) Imagine, that without your knowledge, your tribander
above was replaced with a 3 element monobander on an 18 ft boom, and you sat
down at your station to tune the bands, would you know it? Almost certainly
not.
Most hams feel good about their antennas, and think they are performing well
for them. Ask any ham you talk to "How's that antenna of yours working out for
you?" Invariably the answer is "Great." Then ask, "How do you know?" If you
don't get dead silence in reply, the answer will go something like, "Because of
all the dx I work with it." He's working dx, he feels good, he's got a good
swr, an antenna that sparkles in the sunlight, and he's fat, dumb, and happy.
Life is good.
Rick K2XT
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