[TowerTalk] Vertical vs Beam

[Richard (Rick) Karlquist]

I'll jump in here.  I recently got my MonstIR Yagi operational.
I expected an improvement vs my old antennas (inverted vees
and verticals).  What surprised me is how big the improvement
is on 30 and 40 meters.  It is huge.  At least 10 dB and often more on 
transmit.  The improvement is a reliable 10 dB on 20 meters and
higher, vs inverted vees.  Even more against a vertical on
15 and 10.  Besides the transmit improvement, I can hear a lot
better.  A vertical being non directional seldom if ever competes
for receiving with a beam that can reject noise coming from other 
directions.  In many cases, European stations go from inaudible to 
armchair copy switching from the inverted vee to the MonstIR.  Even 
cranked down to 25 feet, the MonstIR beats or equals the inverted vee
at 60 feet.

The only bands I have found where verticals are preferred are on
80 and 160 meters, which is good because of the impractical size
of Yagis on those bands.

I should also mention that I have compared a 4 element SteppIR
to a 2 element SteppIR.  As modeling would predict, the 4 element
is a few dB better.  A worthwhile difference, but the 2 element
vs the 4 element is a lot closer than the 2 element vs a vertical.
So even a 2 element Yagi is worth putting up if you can swing it.

Rick N6RK