[TowerTalk] CobWebb antennas - success stories?

[Michael Tope]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Rauch" <w8ji at contesting.com>

>
> A few things at that site seem to be unclear, such as the
> statements about gain of dipoles and Yagis. I don't know
> what he is trying to say when he says a 2 element antenna
> with 4dBd gain has less gain than his compact antenna with
> 2dB gain. It is not clear to me what he is saying.
>

I don't know. He seems to shift at random between measurement
references. First he compares his antenna measured over
ground to an isotropic reference, then he compares a straight
dipole over ground to dipole in free space (not sure how he
got 5dB though). The whole point seems to be to confuse a
potential buyer into thinking that somehow his antenna has
more gain than a beam or even a straight dipole. This doesn't
inspire much confidence, which is too bad because I think
all-in-all, it is a fairly sound concept for a compact HF antenna
- horizontal polarization, reasonably omni pattern, decent
efficiency, and small size.

73 de Mike, W4EF..........

> So we have some bent folded dipoles. Good enough. Other than
> the impedance change, that's the same as any other dipole
> the same shape and size. Less gain and efficiency than a
> full size antenna, but hey...if that's all you can do.....
>
> 73 Tom
>