Hi Tom,
> The new antenna measures 11 dB louder at K5NA than the old antenna.
> Now how much of this is from other factors, I don't know but this is
> 5dB more than expected with the 4-Square. The antenna seems to be
> playing quite well in all directions with good F/B in each quadrant so
> I do not attribute this result to a funky pattern..
I measured about 5 dB or so improvement when using 60 radials on
the ground compared to a system using 4 elevated radials.
If you allow 5 dB gain for the four-square plus normal meter errors,
your measured results are in-line with what I measured in two
separate tests comparing ground systems. You picked up maybe
5 dB from the ground system, and the rest from antenna gain.
As to the polarization vs wave angle issue by John...there is no
way to tell for certain. What I would need is a null at low angles on
my vertical, which I suppose I could do if I top-loaded my tall tower.
I only know that a dipole at 300 feet is better than a dipole at 150
feet, and much better than a dipole at 50 feet for any distance more
than a few hundred miles....and a omni-vertical with a good ground
system beats them all unless within a hundred miles at night. The
higher I kept moving the dipole the better it worked, but I ran out of
nerve at 318 feet. I'm getting too old to climb that high now.
73, Tom W8JI
W8JI@contesting.com
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