[TowerTalk] 80-m. Inverted Vee vs. Dipole Performance

[David Gilbert]

As I stated, there are valid points of view on both sides of this 
discussion.  Some folks simply want to get on the air and chat, and if a 
piece of wire draped over the couch works they're happy.  Other folks 
try to optimize their situation (antennas in the context of this 
discussion) within whatever practical constraints they may face, or at 
least they strive toward an understanding of same.  I have no issue at 
all with either point of view, and at various points in my ham career I 
have been all over that scale.

However, I do have a real problem with replacing science with hearsay, 
theory with opinion, and fact with myth.  The whole subject of antennas 
is rife with misunderstanding and careless opinions, and when somebody 
knowledgeable enough to shed light on any particular topic (I 
specifically and categorically exclude myself from that camp) is willing 
to do so, I'm not sure our hobby is advanced by suggesting they're 
having a bad hair day.

Speaking of myths ...

It is absolutely not "fact" that aerodynamic experts have concluded bees 
can't fly.   It's a cute urban legend that won't die simply because 
people love to use it to justify why physics isn't reliable when it 
interferes with what they want to believe.  Three minutes of Google 
searching came up with these and several other links:

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1076/is-it-aerodynamically-impossible-for-bumblebees-to-fly

http://backreaction.blogspot.com/2008/05/bumblebees-cant-fly.html

http://www.wolfson.ox.ac.uk/~ben/zetie1.htm

http://www.maa.org/mathland/mathtrek_09_13_04.html

http://www.math.niu.edu/~rusin/known-math/98/bees

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumble_bee#Flight  (scroll down to "Myths")

73,
Dave   AB7E




On 9/15/2010 9:14 PM, Kelly Taylor wrote:
> I think this all reminds me of the bumblebee axiom quoted here (or on
> Cq-contest, can't remember), which said that -- and it is fact --
> aerodynamic experts, calculating mass and wing surface area, have concluded
> the mathematically, bees can't fly. The bees, not knowing any better, just
> fly.