Nope, that wasn't typical for me. My second Gotham was a two element quad
that worked just dandy and was working everything I could hear on twenty and
fifteen and ten as well. I put it up in 1965. My neighbor and good friend,
Al, K7JMV (sk) and I had three element tri-band beams up running about the
same power and height. We seemed to be mostly neck and neck on reports. I
bought Gotham's 2 element quad, put it up and without exception outdid him
by many many db's when we frequently checked signals and received comparison
reports.
I must admit the vertical never worked very well for me. I think it had an
overall length of twenty three or twenty seven feet if I remember correctly.
Living in Natick, Mass I was 14 in 1953 when I got my ticket. I Used to
tune up my off center-fed windom using a four foot fluorescent tube taped to
the antenna wire between a couple of trees in the front yard. I tuned for
max brightness. That kept the neighborhood in stitches. People would
drive by our house at night, slam on the brakes (I could usually hear the
brakes from my upstairs bedroom) and try and figure out what they were
seeing. Maybe that's how UFO's got started.
Van, K7VS
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Pruitt" <wa7duy@charter.net>
To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Monday, July 09, 2007 9:08 PM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Gotham antennas
>I remember Gotham quite well. I also learned the hard way that cheap was
> not necessarily good! I bought a 4 element 15 meter yagi from them from
> an
> ad in QST. When I put it up I could work just as many stations off the
> front as I could off the back and sides and with no difference in signal
> strength! The SWR was 10 to 1 at the lowest. I took it down that same
> day
> when the elements kept becoming verticals and was never put back up! I
> used
> the aluminum for other antennas! That was about 1970 and it took very
> little power on 15 to work anybody! I did not make the mistake of buying
> any of their other antennas!
>
> Sounds like my experience was typical!
>
> Jim Pruitt
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <n8de@thepoint.net>
> To: "Pete Raymond" <n4kw@wildblue.net>
> Cc: <towertalk@contesting.com>; <donovanf@starpower.net>
> Sent: Monday, July 09, 2007 8:10 PM
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Gotham antennas
>
>
>> From my index file:
>> K1JYN Central Falls, RI .. worked 1959,1960,1967,1972 on 80m 40m and 20m
> CW
>> Also worked K1JYN/1 on 40m and 80m CW in 1966
>>
>> W1CMH Cranston, RI .. worked on 20m CW in 1957 SS
>>
>> Memories are made of this!
>> Don
>> N8DE
>> ex-W8QHW
>>
>> Quoting Pete Raymond <n4kw@wildblue.net>:
>>
>> > Well my paper route would only allow for a V80 in 57 as KN1BFX, dropped
> the
>> > N later that year. It would be interesting to find out who the owners
> were
>> > and if they were hams. As for K1JYN and W1CMH. CMH sounds familiar to
> me
>> > but cannot place either of them. Boy does this stuff bring back the
>> > memories.
>> > 73 Pete N4KW
>> >
>> >
>
>> >>
>> >> ---- Original message ----
>> >>> Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2007 14:40:47 -0400
>> >>> From: "jeremy-ca" <km1h@jeremy.mv.com>
>> >>> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Gotham antennas
>> >>> To: "Pete Raymond" <n4kw@wildblue.net>, "James C. Garland"
>> >>> <4cx250b@muohio.edu>, <towertalk@contesting.com>
>> >>>
>> >>> Good stories from all.
>> >>>
>> >>> Gotham started in Harlem, NY, moved when the area got unhealthy, to
> Queens
>> >>> for a short time and then to Florida.
>> >>>
>> >>> The average kid, and some older hams, that bought the verticals didnt
>> >>> understand about radial systems. Attaching the coax shield to a
>> >>> ground
> rod
>> >>> just didnt cut it. Same could be said about some modern newbies and
>> >>> misleading info from some manufacturers.
>> >>>
>> >>> My 15M 3el stayed up fine for about 4 years and then my folks asked
>> >>> me
> to
>> >>> take it down since I was in the Navy and home as little as I could
> manage!
>> >>> Two years later I was working for National Radio in Malden, MA
>> >>>
>> >>> Carl
>> >>> KM1H
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> KM1H
>
>> >>>>
>> >>>> ----- Original Message -----
>> >>>> From: "James C. Garland" <4cx250b@muohio.edu>
>> >>>> To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
>> >>>> Sent: Monday, July 09, 2007 10:10 AM
>> >>>> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] antennas
>> >>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>>> I DO remember all those Gotham ads. But, curiously, I never
>> >>>>> actually
>> >>>>> talked
>> >>>>> to anybody who actually was using one. Even in the 1950s, Gotham
> prices
>> >>>>> seemed impossibly low. I always wondered if they worked and how
>> >>>>> well
>> >>>>> they
>> >>>>> were constructed? And if nobody bought them, how did the company
>> >>>>> pay
>> >>>>> for
>> >>>>> all
>> >>>>> those QST and CQ magazine ads?
>> >>>>> Jim W8ZR
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
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>
>
> --
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> Version: 7.5.476 / Virus Database: 269.10.2/891 - Release Date: 7/8/2007
> 6:32 PM
>
>
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