On Friday, November 07, 1997 12:12 PM, Roger L.
Elowitz[SMTP:K2JAS@worldnet.att.net] wrote:
>Hi LB,
>
>Bravo! Your latest critique in the "antenna gain spec wars" is another
>stake in the heart of self-serving commercial advertising and
>marketing interests that capitalize on sophisticated technical
>ignorance in order to enhance sales.
>
>Someday we may live to see all antenna specifications derived on a
>single standardized test range that is operated by a non-profit company
>with un-biased testing done á-là Consumer's Reports. Then we can then
>all sit back and laugh at the meaningless testimonials such as..."I
>worked 100 countries with this antenna mounted in my attic and only
>20-watts!" There will always be the unsophisticated and ignorant among
>us for whom this kind of appeal has a special resonance. After all, who
>ever said a good education came free?
>
Roger,
You bring up an interesting point. Periodically, at different locations
around the country, there is something called a mobile shoot-out. The
mobile operators gather and run antenna tests with their various
mobile antenna types. I think they use a common wattmeter to
set the power level to a common level and fixed locations for the
source and receiver/measuring unit.
It would seem to me their results might be somewhat consistent.
Why could something similar not be done at some of the larger
contest stations which may have a variety of different antennas?
Where some popular antennas are missing, maybe they could
be made available from club members or even the manufacturers
(right!).
Heck, I've heard of some clubs on the east coast that have upwards
of a couple of hundred members. It would seem to me that at any
one time, there would be a couple of different beam antennas on
the ground for one reason or another and might lend themselves
to being placed on reference tower and applied with a reference
power level and received at a reference site with a reference antenna,
reference receiver, and reference measuring and recording device.
That would be very interesting.....
Dale Martin, KG5U
kg5u@hal-pc.org
http://www.hal-pc.org/~kg5u
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