Topband: Rhombics

[Tom W8JI]

> I think rhombics were sometimes chosen for receiving, because they are a
> type of wave antenna like the Beverage but with a sharper pattern. But how
> the two compare, I can't say.

Rhombics, because of the many small lobes, have poor directivity. As such, 
they are not exceptionally good receiving antennas.

As Rudy pointed out:

"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."

Log periodics relaced them for bandwidth (with similar or slightly less 
gain), and curtains replaced them for increased gain (with loss of SWR 
bandwidth).