Mark has nailed it!
One of the nice things about making something and seeing it it works well
enough is that what you make doesn’t know how well it is supposed to work and
doesn’t care. :-)
So if it works it works regardless of what anyone thought beforehand.
Usually if it works (and no one thought it would), we find out long after the
fact why it worked, and generally it was something that wasn’t known or
understood at the time, and now the field advances with the “Gee, I wonder why
it works so well?” study and discoveries afterwards.
Simple example... I wanted to put up a 4-stack on 15 meters when I built my
station. I new that I needed heights of 30’, 60’ and 90’, but with 100’ of
tower it didn’t seem to make sense to put another 15 above that. The thinking
was that even on a tall mast, the 90’ and another 15 at 109’ would be too close
and would phase poorly especially if they were pointed in different directions.
Everyone that I asked about this said so. These guys built great stations and
are great ops. You know all of their calls. But I modeled the stack with
K6STI’s YO and it looked GOOD! I asked them again. “NO! I would not do it”
came the answer in unison. Thankfully I did my homework beforehand and I
chose not to listen to the advice of people that I respect.
So I built it and put it up anyway. The 5L at 109’ was and is a KILLER!,
especially when in phase with the 90’. I believed the modeling over my
terrain. The software was correct and my 15 meter experience has been awesome
for the past 20 years. (And I have thanked Brian, K6STI many times over the
years)
Before I put it up I reasoned that if it didn’t work I could always take it
down. But if it did work, I would never want to! :-) Very high reward to
risk ratio!
Moral of the story: Model it, build it well, put it up and see how it does!
73
Bob KQ2M
From: Mark - N5OT
Sent: Tuesday, September 10, 2019 4:11 PM
To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] "experts" on loading towers on low bands
I'm a big fan of "experiment trumps theory" and basically I have spent
nearly 50 years doing the following:
1. Make something.
2. See if it works well enough.
3. If it works well enough, you're done. If it doesn't, change
something and see what happens.
Clearly I'm just an amateur. But because I'm on TowerTalk™ I can say I
make "educated guesses."
Love you guys,
73 - Mark N5OT
(intended to be humorous - everyone carries a bucket of gasoline in one
hand and a bucket of water in the other - they get to choose which one
they throw on the fire - I choose water) (most of the time)
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