[TowerTalk] Stacked tri-banders vs. Single mono-banders

[force12@interserv.com]

Good morning, Pete.

Have been off the electronic highway for a few days with a bad cold, plus, 
we are moving this facility. Have been in that process for about 5 weeks. 
Had forgotten how tough it is to move, especially when everything is so 
heavy!

You might be interested in an enhanced C-3 that I have been using for 
several months. The spacing for good gain from a pair of C-3's on 20 and 15 
is too wide for 10. Although it is a good set-up, I thought the C-3 could be 
"encouraged" to do better in a stack on 10 mtrs. To do this, it needed more 
gain on 10 mtrs to work with the wide vertical spacing. So, I added a 10 mtr 
refelctor to a stock C-3. This increased the forward gain on 10 mtrs by 
about 1dB, which makes the typical stacking distances much better for 10. 
The F/B is also increased to more than 20 dB on 10 mtrs and the feed system 
remains as before. The only change was to add the 10 mtr reflector.

I called the "new" C-3 the "C-3E" and it has been in operation for about a 
half year - just to be sure it is doing what we think it should! (This 
configuration does lower the 12 mtr gain by about a dB, but that was a fair 
trade for the primary purpose.) The added element is on a special bracket 
that screws to the boom with four set screws. The element under the boom 
captures the boom and it has held up during several severe winter storms 
here.

If you want to give it a try, let us know!

By the way, it is possible to model a separate 10 mtr antenna between a pair 
of C-3's. When things settle down a little from this move, I can look into 
it. If you need a computer model of anything, let us know.

Have a good day and 73,
			Tom, N6BT
			Force 12 Antennas and Systems
			(Home Page   http://www.QTH.com/force12 )



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