[TenTec] Bazooka antenna.. More than you wanted to know!

[Dr. Gerald N. Johnson]

On Tue, 2008-06-03 at 20:06 -1000, Ken Brown wrote:
> Hi Jim,
> >  Looking back at my notations The Double Bazooka noise floor was a needle width less than the folded dipole on the OMNI VI Plus on 17M.
> A lower S meter reading, when only noise is present, could be an 
> indication that the antenna actually somehow responds less to noise, 
> while working equally well (compared to the other antenna) on signals. 
> It could also be an indication that the antenna has more loss than the 
> one you are comparing it 

Or that the receiver is responding to noise at frequencies other than
the band of interest (wide band FM heard in a 2 KHz bandwidth sounds
like noise) and the stubs of the bazooka are rejecting that out of band
noise.

>  If the two antennas you are comparing have 
> essentially the same geometry, that is they span the same distance from 
> end point to end point, and have a feed point in the same location, then 
> there is a real good chance that the one with lower noise power at the 
> receiver also has lower signal power at the receiver, due to higher losses.
> 
> On the lower HF bands, there is usually enough atmospheric noise being 
> picked up by your antenna (unless it is really, really inefficient) to 
> overcome your receiver's noise floor (unless your receiver has a really 
> high noise floor or overall low gain). As long as atmospheric noise is 
> greater than your receiver's noise floor, you don't lose any receive 
> capability due to the losses of the antenna. It's the guy at the other 
> end that will have less signal from you due to your antenna loss, who 
> may not hear you above the atmospheric and other noise. He might not be 
> able to hear you tell him how good your SWR is.

> >   Maybe because of my location which is not  NOT a IDEAL situation, 
> > the Double Bazooka worked better for me on 17M for what ever reason.  
> > I challenge any one to put one of these up and compare it side by side 
> > to another wire antenna and see what happens.  

> That is a problem in antenna comparisons. Two side by side antennas do 
> not act independently. They will interact. You would have to take one 
> down while you test the other. Even if the one not being tested was 
> laying below on the ground, it would likely have an effect on the 
> overall performance of the one in the air. Since you cannot keep band 
> conditions constant long enough to lower one antenna and raise the 
> other, the test effectively cannot be done, unless the noise sources and 
> signal sources are all non-skywave .

For sure.
> 
> DE N6KB
> 
73, Jerry, K0CQ