Sure, the article was called, "Everything Works," and was by Tom Schiller,
N6BT, the proprietor of Force-12.
I've experienced some similar stuff over the years, which help clarify that
the difference between an average antenna an an astonishingly excellent one
for the same frequency can be so vast that most wouldn't actually believe
it. Like 40-50-60 dB difference. On HF, not microwaves. It truly is
amazing when you get to operate using antennas like that. -WB2WIK/6
"Success is the ability to go from failure to failure with no loss of
enthusiasm." -Winston Churchill
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rob Atkinson, K5UJ [SMTP:k5uj@hotmail.com]
> Sent: Monday, November 03, 2003 10:17 AM
> To: towertalk@contesting.com
> Cc: k5uj@hotmail.com
> Subject: [BULK] - [TowerTalk] Commercial antennas
>
> A few years ago, QST had an article by one of the Force 12 guys, on how a
> better antenna can improve ham radio fun exponentially. He started with
> the
> amount of fun to be had using a light bulb for an antenna and went up from
>
> there (yes, it's possible to have a qso with a lightbulb antenna but not
> very many, or a very good qso).
>
> Anyway, the interesting part was a story he told about visiting an island
> in
> the Pacific to operate in a contest. It just so happened that at the
> other
> end of the island a sw bc station had a tx site with some curtain antennas
>
> at the top of a cliff overlooking the ocean. I believe these were the
> type
> of curtains with multiple vert. dipoles in front of screens hanging
> between
> 200' towers. The cliff was several hundred feet high. The curtains were
> fed with open wire feed. The author and another op were invited to hook
> their rigs up to one of the curtains, as the bc station was QRT. On 15 m.
>
> at night what had been a dead band became alive with signals. barefoot
> they
> were around 20 db over 9 into N. America. (I might be slightly wrong
> about
> the figures but the sig. strength over a typical yagi on a tower, what
> they
> were going to operate with, was astonishing.) The reason for the story
> was to illustrate how much difference a good antenna makes but not too
> many
> hams can afford $300,000 for a curtain antenna. Nevertheless, it proved
> the
> point that operating fun goes way up with each antenna improvement. Maybe
>
> someone else can remember the author, year and month the article was in
> QST
> and more about the story.
>
> Rob Atkinson
> K5UJ
>
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> _______________________________________________
>
> See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless
> Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with
> any questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
>
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_______________________________________________
See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless
Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with
any questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
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