Hi, Bob. Like Steve's response, this will sound like a blatant, commercial
plug;
however, it is not intended to be so. My first "serious" antennas were all
quads, some commrcial, some homebrew. They ranged from 2 elements to 5; from
single band to two-band, to triband. I thought they "worked well", until a
friend brought over a 20 mtr Yagi to use as a third antennna in a contest.
After
the contest, I convinced him to let it remain at the QTH for a while. I have
never used another quad.
Wayne Overbeck, N6NB (the inventor of the Quagi) did a very good
comparison between quads and yagis using his personally developed 2 element
quad. This was back in maybe the late 70's. Interesting reading.
My personal preference is the Yagi. It is not 3 dimensional, which
means
it is much easier to install. It is essentially a flat plane, which means it
looks smaller. The Yagi is straight forward in design and tuning, vs. quad
tuning which Steve mentioned. My experience in having quads and Yagis
simultaneously and also in competitive situations is overwhelmingly in favor of
the Yagi - regardless of height above ground, or boom length comparisons.
There are efficient, multiband Yagis around that will be just fine on
your tower. One from Force 12 is the C-4, which covers 40-10 on an 18' boom.
There are many more!
73,
Tom, N6BT (Force 12 Antennas ad Systems)//
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