[TowerTalk] Lossy traps?

[Jerry K]

A fixed element non-trapped tribander with only three elements appears 
to be an oxymoron. In the only comparison I can offer, I ran a standard 
Moseley TA-33 trapped tribander for years with decent results, finally 
went to a Force 12 C3XLD (3 bands, no traps, but F12 doesn't call it a 
"tribander") and the difference was literally astonishing. But the F12 
was a $1400 antenna with 10 full-length elements on a 33' boom with 
separate feeds for each, weighs 75 lb, and is essentially three 
monobanders on a common boom (10M used 4 elements). From day one the 
Force 12 was the proverbial 'nuclear weapon' in a pileup. The difference 
was dramatic, and yes, people 5000 miles away and more certainly did 
notice the difference. Just for fun, I also occasionally ran QRP to that 
antenna and had a blast trying to convince Europeans I really was 
running only 800mw. :)
73, Jerry W5KP

foxbw at comcast.net wrote:
> How “lossy” are traps on a trap tri-bander?   Some manufacturers of non-trapped tri-banders cite the lossy aspect of traps, but how real is that loss?   Can it be measured?   Would someone 500 or 5000 miles away notice the difference between a  trapped tri-bander and a similar tri-bander antenna without traps?  Notice I said tri-bander, not mono-bander, SteppIRs, etc. 
>
> Anyone have any idea? 
>
> TNX / 73, 
>
> Barry - W1HFN
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