[TowerTalk] 80 meter antenna comparison

[StellarCAT]

a couple more comments:

first off I believe all would agree when you say that the yagi 
beats the 4 SQ by 3 db to as much
as 2 S-units - this is a great deal! Even 3 db as we all know is 
non-trivial! I'm surprised that you
would have thought the beam would be better than this...

second although in theory switching instantly is nice - I'm not 
sure in practice the band changes
enough that this is a real issue.... of course that is said from 
here in the states where for the most
part I am pointed one way and might change it a bit (from say EU 
to AFR) but not a great deal.
There in EU you might have to change more to accommodate EU and 
the US.

Thanks to all who responded... I have to think this over.

By the way - I don't think I mentioned on the group (I have 
responded to some directly and
not through the group).... I have a (used) F12 "Zagi" antenna 
just sitting here...
3 el 80 and 3 el 40 with a 58' boom... AND I have 140' of R55 
tower just sitting here...
what I don't have is a great deal of time (self employed - 7 day 
weeks are common)...
my thoughts were to convert this to a 2 el 44' boom ala F12 
Sigma280Magnum w/Hi-Q coils
and to put it at about 130'.

Also it was my plan, and I have the design substantially modeled 
and thought out, to have
this antenna follow the rig - both for VSWR as well as 
optimization of FB (or gain if selected)
and have it be reversible to reduce rotor time/wear. Again - 
that was the plan.

g.
K9RX