[TowerTalk] Yagi vs Quad

[Mike Fatchett W0MU]

If you like big antennas then go for the MonstIR.  That will give you 2 ele
on 40 and 30 and 40 ele on 20-6.

Or

The 4 ele steppIR with a 40 above it.  I have this setup in Colorado and
Montana and I love the 4 ele SteppIR.  I have a cushcraft XM240 above the
SteppIR's.  I should have converted the XM240's to Moxon's though..

Wait time on the SteppIR is 3 to 4 months.

I love having 4 ele on 12/17 and I have the passive elements for 6m which
makes it serviceable on that band.  They also offer a 30/40 trombone single
ele option that works pretty well on 30.

They are not great for instantaneous band changes and they don't have
separate feedline options like you can get on other antennas.

I think the SteppIR's get out very very well.  It is my feeling that the
other multi element antennas interact negatively with your desired signal.
You do not have this issue with the SteppIR.  The SteppIR also allows you
the option to modify your antenna as you wish and is optimized at a number
of places in each band.

I asked SteppIR if they could give me some dimensions on a 20m antenna that
would give me max forward gain and as little F/B as possible.  I was doing a
bunch of net work and it was not good to have 20db plus of F/B when you want
to help people all over.  In other instances you may want the F/B but it is
nice to have choices.

Good luck and sorry to hear of your loss.

Mike W0MU


On 1/9/08 8:54 PM, "andy ronan" <1n9tgr at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

> Hi Guys,
>    
>   Im sure this question may of come up before but I am new to the list and
> thought I might give it a try.I lost my tower just before Christmas in a bad
> storm and now face the task of replacing everthing.The antenna I had was a 4el
> 5b quad on a 30ft boom fed with seperate feedlines,it worked extremely good
> and was easily heard in the pileups.I am contemplating switching to a yagi
> type antenna because I just dont have the time to set up another quad or the
> time for the maintenance that comes with them.
>   I know a lot of the yagi guys are using force 12s and steppers and was
> wondering how they play in the real world.Two of the antennas that caught my
> eye were the 4el stepper 6-40mtrs or the force12 5ba topped with a force 12
> 230/240.
>   The antennas will be mounted on a 70ft plus tower,I need to keep the boom
> lengths around 30ft as I live in the city on a small lot,I will be running
> legal limit and prefer to stay away from trapped antennas as I like to run
> rtty and dont want the hassle of replacing traps .due to overheating.I will be
> using a remote relay switch so seperate feedlines are not an issue.My main
> bands of interest are 20-15-40 in that order but I would like the flexibility
> of using the warc bands without the need to an external tuner.
>   Hopefully I have included enough backround and look forward to hearing your
> comments.
>    
>   73s  Andy   N9TGR...EI8IM
>    
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