[TowerTalk] News from Bencher

[K7LXC@aol.com]

July 10, 2000

Dear Fellow Amateur,

If you have had any prior interest you knew that the Bencher Skyhawk was
withdrawn from the market earlier this year due to a possible patent
infringement. We stated that we were redesigning the feed to resolve
this problem.

That program is reached a most successful conclusion, and I am happy to
announce that we are now accepting orders for new Skyhawk antennas. We
are presently modifying antennas in inventory, and revising the manual
to reflect the changes made. We anticipate shipments will begin in early
August.

What are the changes? The most significant is that now each of the
driven elements for 20, 15 and 10 meters is directly fed, using a single
coax for all three, instead of using an open sleeve feed. How has this
affected SWR? On 20 meters there is no change from our prior
specifications. On 15 meters we have lowered the SWR; our test antenna
is less than 1.3:1 across the band. On 10 meters the bandwidth has
narrowed very slightly; maximum SWR across the design segment of the
band is at 28.9 mHz and is 1.6:1, with an SWR of 1.3:1 at 28.0.

We indicated earlier that the limited performance on 17 and 12 meters
would be reduced. In fact, while the SWR on 17 meters has gone up to
3.5:1 the antenna still seems to perform surprisingly well, though as
before the modest gain is off the back of the antenna. SWR on 12 meters
is also 3.5:1, with little or no apparent gain.

Driven element spacers will now be supplied as standard equipment with
the Skyhawk.

All other specifications are essentially unchanged.

We are delighted to be back in the market with what has already been
proven to be the best antenna in its class, both in terms of performance
and in quality.

Please contact your dealer to place your order.

73!

Bencher, Inc.


Bob Locher, W9KNI
Executive Vice President

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