there are new antenna designs all the time. but they are incremental
changes and build on well known technology. witness the steppir, improved
yagi designs by m2 or f12, and yes, even fractal designs... none of them
are unique or amazing, but each one has some small improvement over
existing designs. now maybe this 'new' design has indeed found a way to
reduce losses, but it probably depends on what you measure against...
without more details it can't even be modeled let alone built and tested.
the only real hint in the press release was that his 'breakthrough' was
when he examined the melted model, this could mean he realized that the
loss was worst at the base, so maybe he has designed a silver plated fat
loading coil over a large solid ground plate... could that double the far
field strength? only if you were measuring against an antenna that wasted
over 50% of it's input already... assuming the same radiation pattern of
course.
I look at the state of the art in antenna design as 'mature'. much like
the design of many other technologies that have been around for the last
100 years or so, there is probably little that remains to be discovered
that is really revolutionary. limits can be pushed by new materials or
improved construction techniques. old designs can be optimized by better
computer modeling. but the basic physics are well defined and a hundred
years of experimentation and testing by some of the best minds on earth
have probably probed most of the likely areas for improvement. that any
individual would stumble on something that has been totally overlooked for
that long is unlikely.
so where does that leave us??? waiting for details to pick apart. is it
something revolutionary? unlikely, but at least this one doesn't claim to
rely on new physics that i have seen. is it that much better than the
best we have now? unlikely, but we don't know what he claims to be
measuring against yet. am i interested? unlikely, i have room for full
size stuff and none of these compact designs has been shown to be better
than full size antennas. so until there are more details all we can do is
speculate and waste time in the short summer antenna growing season.
> I agree that the track record for recently announced amazing new antenna
> inventions has been poor, but are you really asserting that there will
> be no new antenna designs from here on?
>
> 73,
>
> Dave, AA6YQ
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: towertalk-bounces@contesting.com
> [mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Tom Rauch
> Sent: Monday, June 07, 2004 22:47
> To: jimjarvis@ieee.org; Towertalk
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] URI magic antennas
>
>
>> The press release says nothing, except to suggest 3 dB
> greater
>> signal from whatever this loaded monopole is, vs. 'normal'
> monopoles.
>
> A west-coast amateur predicted a new magic antenna was due
> to appear soon. Magical antennas all follow the same basic script with
> different "fill in the blank" phrases.
>
> ________ was accidentally discovered by a fellow who works
> part time on antennas because he needed an antenna that had high
> performance in limited space.
>
> The __________ antenna does not follow conventional rules,
> and cannot be modeled in normal MOM based programs. It was verified by
> the person who invented it in over-the-air tests in at least _________
> locations, where it was successfully compared to other reference
> antennas of unknown efficiency.
>
> The ________ will eventually benefit society by _________.
>
> What you will always find is the inventor:
>
> 1.) Never used a real antenna range or real test setup
> 2.) Never had it peer reviewed or verified by independent sources
> 3.) Always discovers some new physics everyone else "missed"
> 4.) Often uses "X worked XX with only XXX watts" as proof of some
> absolute performance.
>
> These things repeat so often, I'm shocked anyone would
> believe something that fits the same pattern over and over.
>
> DDRR, CFA, Fractals, CTA, E-H, Super-C, and so on. I'll omit the various
> beams and quads, some of which are still on the market (like 20dB gain
> super contest quagi's from the 80's and 6dB gain two-element antennas
> from the 90's and later).
>
> 73 Tom
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> 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.
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>
_______________________________________________
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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