[TowerTalk] Short Booms

[Ward Silver]

> No amount of clever engineering in areas of element interaction, feed
> efficiency, tuning networks (i.e. - traps), impedance matching gadgetry,
> etc. can make up for a short boom.
>
> True?
>
> 73 - Bryan W4WMT

In terms of raw forward gain, true, but short-boom antennas can be designed
to manage the bedeviling secondary factors in ways that make them better
antennas than poorly implemented long-boom antennas.  Antennas are complex
critters with a lot of parameters to consider - bandwidth, front-to-back,
SWR, feedpoint impedance, and mechanical robustness - that require
compromises in gain.  In determining bang for the buck, one has to define
"bang" pretty carefully.

73, Ward N0AX