[TowerTalk] VE3BMV Razor beams

[K3BU@aol.com]

Dear TowerTalkers
Your Excellency W8JI
All those that I cheated out of the dBs!
(Those with heart condition, please don't take it too seriously :-)

First I would like to thank to all those who made a "mistake" and understood 
what I was trying to convey, expressed their comments here or in private 
emails to me. Your support made me realize that perhaps I am not complete 
idiot, cheat and a liar. It is very much appreciated and confirms my belief 
that not all hams are RF damaged or brain dead. 

For those others, let me try to paint the picture, see if that can maybe get 
through and do some good.

Internet reflectors seem to reflect the personalities of their reflectees. So 
lets try to retrace some steps in the case Quad vs. Yagi thread.
    Unsuspecting ham asks question, what is better to put up? Quads or Yagis. 
He gets answers: put up Yagis! put up Quads! Then the professor W8JI comes in 
with the final judgment: quads, loops are bunch of no good folklore, bent 
dipoles, old fashioned, dummy loads, so fuggetabout loops! (some hyperbole 
used here and further down for illustration purposes and to inject some humor 
for those who can still laugh).
    Yuri reads that, thinks, hey, I played with quad loops, they have some 
gain and benefits over dipoles (Yagis, yada, yada). He used them in his 
hybrid Quad-Yagi antenna design to maximize the performance in search for max 
gain per boom length. He found by experiments (not very "scientific" by 
today's software antenna designer's standards) that he could achieve that. 
After 3 months of freezing his butt in the dark of Canadian winter - bunch of 
2m baby Razors designs were born. They beat their commercial KLM yagi cousins 
on (crude) antenna test range (that's where the gain game and proof was 
done). Scaled components were used to approximate the link between 2m and 15m 
scaling. (The complete Razor story will be written someday, it is quite 
interesting.)
    Next thing, Yuri couldn't wait to build the real thing for HF bands and 
try to it out. He built the 5 el babies, they were great, then 7 el. log 
Razors they were killers. Whata fun chasing DX, cracking pileups barefoot, 
creaming WORLD records and nailing ALL Canadian records on single band (only 
one escaped, 10m CQ WW SSB 10m by VE6 made year before when condx were 
better). 
    Those accusers of me making things up and some VE7 beating me with TH6, 
can go back to pre 1986 results and check it out, it is all there recorded in 
CQ WPX and WW results. But this is beside the point (another topic for 
nitpickers on the wrong tangent). I used some of those experiences to 
ILLUSTRATE that Razors were no dummy loads, not to make a claim that 
professor figured out: "Yuri claims Razor is 30 dB better than dipole, whatta 
idiot!"
    So when I saw W8JI dumping on quads and making WRONG statements, I 
pointed out what I knew, experienced and posted my opinion. Trying to 
illustrate the point I mentioned some of the things I experienced. The 
result? (happened before) Tom ignores facts and objections, "finds" 30dB 
claim and - "I win"! The other Rauchians unleash their keyboards and attack 
the "liar, cheat, etc." Instead of making Tom explain how come Quad loop 
can't have a larger aperture, if it has at least .56dB  (according to W8JI) 
gain over dipole (he stated himself that aperture is tied to the gain) and 
other things, the chorus joins Tom in ignoring answering the points brought 
by "dummy" and start ripping him on "outrageous claims." You read the rest, 
those who know the stuff, know what I mean, those unenlightened, well, you 
saw it.... 
    I stand behind the claims I made, they can be verified. Ask W9RE why he 
had Razors for close to 20 years and replaced them recently. Would you keep 
piece of crap for that long? He also made some impressive scores in the 
contests from Midwest using Razors (called them Quagis :-( !)
    Again, I wrote what I know, I am not selling anything, not looking for 
any "glory" "recognition" or whatever. I am just happy ham, playing with 
radios, learning, building station equipment and antennas so I can go and try 
to do my best in the contest and cream the competition. That's where my 
whatever gets measured and when I see my call on the top, that is my reward 
(and cigar). That's IT. So I don't care what some of those that can't read, 
think about me and make up things that were not intended to be.
    Reflectors and NG seem to have life of their own. Like one asks the 
question, people read something else and they answer things that were not 
asked and take off on tangents that are not related to the subject. I 
realized that, and I am not going to engage in "defending" myself from the 
"crimes" I have not committed. I might reconsider future postings if I see 
something wrong, I have already bitten keyboard many times, but sometimes you 
just can't stomach it, and there we go again (like now).
    Like example, when I asked about anyone experiencing working with radials 
over salt water "ground." I got lessons about everything else, but the 
question asked. Ooooookay! I got the point.
    Tom has history (not just with me) of "battles" when he is proven wrong 
in his statements, then he pulls back, then goes quiet for a while, and then 
at some later point becomes guru and a professor on the subject. It is 
commendable when one learns, but honorable thing is to give a credit where is 
due and big men admit error or wrong (the biggest ones might even say sorry, 
or apologize).
    The lesson I learned (I still learn in my advanced age)? The reflectors 
are a minefield, you don't know what you can step on. If W2PV, W6SAI or other 
notables were around here, they could be stomped out and made look like 
idiots. Better approach seem to be (psssst, I see some are doing it, hi 
there) is to lurk in the back, read the stuff, pick up some good things, then 
write about them in an article, or even better, book, then you will be 
"somebody." If you don't have email or are not exposed to attacks on 
internet, then you might live longer.
    So to friends who enjoy my "crap," I will try to write on subjects in 
form of articles either for magazines, where I would try to explain things in 
better terms in hope to avoid some stuff that took on its own life like here. 
My only problem was, and still is - available time to do that. My first 
priority is my family, work, then radio contesting. I seem to be always 
running out of time to do things that I want to use in the next contest 
(before I get too old to hack 48 hours), never mind writing it up. I am 
hoping that thing will eventually change and I will get around to write in 
the format that is more understandable and I will post here notice and 
pointers to the article.
    I am willing to carry on meaningful exchanges, but not stuff like 
happened on another NG where I was made to be illegal alien and a criminal. I 
can only take so much, and will QSY like some other valuable contributors to 
ham forums did.
    I am sorry that I can't at this point engage in answering all those 
postings accusing me of things that are not, but I have no time for that, I 
am in the process of mastering EZNEC and designing next generation of "no 
good" antennas for the salt water frontier, WPX is approaching fast and I am 
still searching for the magic solution. W7EL's EZNEC (thanks Roy!) is a 
magnificent tool to evaluate various configurations, but I don't trust it 
100%, real life model evaluation and verification will follow. Some 
interesting stuff is brewing already. 
    I would like to thank Mr. administrator - Steve, K7LXC for putting up 
with all this and having the best reflector. Some leeway is beneficial, lot 
of good comes out of it for those with open eyes and minds. Those others, 
well .... 
    What can I possibly get from all this? If you like what I have to offer, 
please give me a call and a point (five nine something, good luck) in the 
next contest. If you hate my guts or I cheated you out of dBs, call me and 
tell me (five five something, you suck :-). That's all I need and appreciate 
for all the commotion I have caused. I could be hiding behind one of the 
calls below, or something more rare if I get my act together and travel to 
one of them 3 point countries. 
    Thanks you for your support and have a nice day!

Yuri,  <A HREF="http://members.aol.com/k3bu/index.htm">K3BU</A>,  <A 
HREF="http://members.aol.com/ve3bmv/index.htm">VE3BMV</A>, VE1BY
 <A HREF="http://members.aol.com/k3bu/TeslaRC.htm">Tesla Radioclub</A> N2EE, 
NT1E, VA1A, VC1A

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