[TowerTalk] RE: Sigma 40XK vs. Minibeam

[corneliuspaul at gmx.net]

I am not surprised with the comparison below.

I dont believe that Mini beam will have much more than 2dBd gain on 20m, 
regardless of what the advertisment says.
Also 25 ft above ground is not much on 20m, so the radiation lobe is 
peaking high, about 30 degrees up.

Whereas the vertical dipole is mounted at its "sweet location" : the beach
So the radiation lobe will be peaking much lower than the beam.

AND - most contacts from VP8 are long haul contacts, where a low radiation 
lobe is king.

To beat the vertical on the beach, the yagi must be better and higher.
If you do the comparison on another geographical setting, it might come out 
different

73 Con DF4SA




>During operation of VP8WWW last week we used one trapped 5-band Yagi (Mosley
>Mini-33-A WARC) at 25 feet, one trapped vertical (Cushcraft(?) 80-10) with 8
>radials, one shortened vertical dipole (Force 12 Sigma-40XK) and one
>horizontal wire dipole cut for 80 with center suspended 2 feet below the
>Yagi.  The dipole was virtually useless at 23 feet and was converted to an
>extra guy when the winds picked up to 50 mph on the morning of November 23.
>
>On 40 meters the 40XK was 2 S-meter units higher than the trapped vertical.
>On 20 the 40XK was about the same S-meter reading as the Mosley but with
>more atmospheric noise.  The 40XK was also used exclusively on 30 meters
>with great success.