I am a qrp contester except when trying to work the likes of 3y0pi (that
required 100 watts!) and have a question for you seasoned fellows. I live in
a suburban area and currently have a light duty tower that supports about 5-6
sq. ft of antenna safely at 65 feet. I have shunt loaded the tower for 160
through 40 and it works very well for dx on the low bands. Now with the sun
gods leaving for the next 5 or 6 years I am thinking about replacing my A3 (3
element tribander, 14 foot boom with 40 meter extension on driven element)
with a full sized 20 meter monobander. This would be limited to 3 elements on
a 18 to 20 foot boom to keep the wind loading acceptable. As the realistic
gain of the a3 on 20 is likely 4 to 5 db the 7-8 db of the monobander should
give an honest 3db gain in the real world......right? Your comments, form
expeirience or theory appreciated. Is it worth the change?
Thanks, Dr. Rick Zabrodski VE6GK Gliderking@aol.com
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