[TowerTalk] C3E vs EF-420S or EF-420

[Dana Roode]

Towertalkans -

I'd be interested in your experience or thoughts related to the
following antenna options.

I currently have a Force-12 C3E at 65'.  I have other antennas for 15
and 10 and I am debating replacing the C3E with either a Force-12
EF-420 (4 element 30' boom) or a EF-420S (4 element 24' boom).  To
grossly over-simplify, the 420S has about .7 db gain over the C3 and
the 420 has a little less than 2 db gain over the C3.

The average front to back ratio on the 420 is 20 and the 420s is 25,
compared with 15db for the C3.

Is it worth the trouble to go to a monobander?  Will I notice any
difference?  Which monobander -  is the extra 1.25 db worth losing 5fb
front to back and dealing with a longer boom?

To add to the mix, if I go with the longer boom I may want to mount it
closer to the top of the tower so it would be at 55' rather than 65'.

  Dana, K6NR