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Re: Topband: Comparison testing

To: bruce whitney <zuceman@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Topband: Comparison testing
From: W2PM <w2pm@aol.com>
Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2013 15:15:44 -0500
List-post: <topband@contesting.com">mailto:topband@contesting.com>
And also the axiom that if your antenna didnt come down in the winter it wasn't 
big enough. 

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 7, 2013, at 10:15 AM, bruce whitney <zuceman@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Tom,
> It is a very well known fact that an antenna erected hastily in harsh 
> conditions always outperforms one erected leisurely -nice warm day, no wind, 
> lots of planning and help, etc.. Every Ham I know - is well aware of this.  I 
> can cite example after example - including temporary Field Day antennas 
> erected in rainy windstorms that outperformed much larger home station 
> arrays. 
>  
> In fact, to take advantage of this - I have been waiting and watching the 
> weather reports for the worst, blinding snow storm of the season - to be 
> absolutely sure that my next antenna project will outperform everything else 
> I have at present.
>  
> Then, you come along and inject all this thinking about objective reasoning, 
> science and engineering into the mix to challenge many of the popular truths 
> - it's just demoralizing... Don't be surprised if there are people that will 
> feel violated or compromised in some way and will lash back.
> 73, Bruce W8RA
>  
>  
>  
> 
> 
> --- On Wed, 3/6/13, Tom W8JI <w8ji@w8ji.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> From: Tom W8JI <w8ji@w8ji.com>
> Subject: Topband: Comparison testing
> To: topband@contesting.com
> Date: Wednesday, March 6, 2013, 1:25 PM
> 
> 
> This reminds me of an experience I had with a new antenna.  After working 
> several days installing a new antenna, I attached it to an a/b switch to 
> compare it with my old antenna. I was delighted, the new antenna was always 
> better !!!  Then to my dismay I saw I had the switch reversed ... oh boy... I 
> changed the feeds, and continued the test.  Guess what.. the new antenna was 
> still always better.
> Lesson learned .... human nature and switching antennas in face of QSB.>>>
> 
> There is more truth to that than most of us realize.
> 
> I put up a G5RV about 100 feet in the air, and I used a pretty good feedline. 
> Doing tests against a dipole on 75 meters, the antenna I called a "G5RV" 
> would almost always get a worse report than the antenna I called a "dipole", 
> even during the times when I called the antennas by the opposite names of 
> what they really were.
> 
> When I would do a test using "antenna 1" or "antenna  2", they were almost 
> even.
> 
> The most extraordinary thing was with a good friend who just absolutely hated 
> G5RV antennas. He would say "your audio sounds worse on the "G5RV" " . This 
> was true even when I called the dipole a G5RV, or didn't change antennas at 
> all and just said I was changing.
> 
> I really think this is why I installed a 300-foot tower just so I could have 
> a high dipole. I "distinctly remembered' how well a 300-foot high dipole I 
> had worked, and I wanted another one. After I installed the dipole here and 
> compared it to a vertical and other antennas for a year or two, I finally 
> remembered how well my old 1/4 wave vertical worked.  :)
> 
> This was eye opening to me.
> 
> 73 Tom 
> _________________
> Topband Reflector
> _________________
> Topband Reflector
_________________
Topband Reflector

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