Towertalk
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [TowerTalk] New antenna?

To: "towertalk@contesting.com" <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] New antenna?
From: john simmons <jasimmons@pinewooddata.com>
Date: Tue, 31 Mar 2026 15:39:53 +0000
List-post: <mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
Jim, et al:

I've been 'recommending' to hams that they should, if possible, buy a 
Yagi of computer aided design. Roger Cox did this at Hy-gain and I 
believe his are the oldest computer-aided design Yagis. Most Yagi 
manufacturers don't have anyone on staff that can help with 
engineering-level questions. One ham that I know of bought a multi-band 
Yagi that was way off spec for SWR, basically unuseable. Many hours, 
lots of $$$ on tower climbing and so on didn't resolve the problem. The 
ham finally took a big loss and bought an antenna from a different company.

The 'new' generation of antenna designers that have been prolific with 
excellent designs (N6BT, etc) are long in the tooth. Are there any new 
guys coming along?

73
-de John NI0K

On 3/30/2026 10:15 PM, Jim Brown via TowerTalk wrote:
> On 3/30/2026 6:30 PM, Doug Renwick via TowerTalk wrote:
>>   Nothing scientific
>
> That's exactly why you don't notice differences -- band conditions 
> easily obscure the differences. The difference in gain, averaged over 
> each band, between the large Moseley and Force 12 tribanders was 5-6 
> dB. 6 dB is an S-unit, corresponding to 4X the transmitter power.
>
> BTW -- it is not "bashing" to do well controlled measurements and 
> publish the result.
>
> The report on these tests is "HF Tribander Performance, Test Methods & 
> Results, 2nd Edition" by Ward Silver, N0AX and Steve Morris, K7LXC." 
> It was published in 1999 by Champion Radio Products.  There's also a 
> report on a later test of HF multiband verticals. Each costs $20. Ward 
> retired from ARRL a few years ago, where he was responsible for 
> updates to The Handbook, The Antenna Book, and authoring other books, 
> including the ARRL Book on "Grounding and Bonding." I worked with him 
> for about 15 years on all three books. Ward is a VERY smart engineer.
>
> https://championradio.com/product-category/publications/
>
> N6BT has published several editions of his very useful book about 
> antennas and their design called "Array Of Light." I have either the 
> 2nd or 3rd edition (currently loaned out to a new ham, so can't look 
> at it). It is written for those who are not engineers, but this 
> engineer learned a lot from it.
>
> The current edition is the 4th, and a description on his website says 
> it's focused on HF verticals, which is has been his small company's 
> focus for a decade or so. For the discussion of HF Yagis, you want the 
> earlier edition.
>
> This is the newer book. https://n6bt.com/on-line-check-out-cart
>
> 73, Jim K9YC
>
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
_______________________________________________



_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>