Topband: Rhombics

[Rudy Severns]

People tend to forget that rhombics were originally used for point-to-point 
communications with fixed azimuths and distances.  While the gain was nice 
the real utility was the broadband character of the antennas, especially 
when terminated.  This allowed the transmit/receive frequencies to be 
quickly changed as propagation along a given path varied.

I used a rhombic field on Eniwetok for the path to Honolulu.  All day and 
through the night we shifted frequency up and down to keep the RTTY link up.

There are much better ways to get gain on 160m if you want to make the 
effort.

73, Rudy N6LF