[TowerTalk] Cost effectivel Tower height

[Andreas Hofmann]

Hi
I want to thank everyone on this alias to suggest running HFTA.  I spent and couple of hours tonight and now realized  that this was a very valuable exercise. Since I promised to report back some findings here it is:

I got a couple of directions with slopes. My slope to Europe especially is a very even 300 feet drop off over the first 2500 feet.  This seems to be working extremely well. To Europe as an example, I can get up to a 11 dbi gain at 4 degrees elevation angle on 40 with 2 el. Yagi at 55 feet.  On flat ground that same antenna at that height would perform 15 dbi lower (-4).  
If I switch to a 3 el yagi at 55 feet on 20 m, I seem to even max out at 16 dbi at 3 degrees elevation. Almost too good to be true.   


Summary:
Unless I am doing something wrong with HFTA, in my case there is no need at all to go above 55 feet (size of a small tubular crank up mast).  Remember my goals from below, no huge expenditure and good DX setup 40 and up.

Thanks
Andreas
KU7T


-----Original Message-----
From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com [mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Andreas Hofmann
Sent: Thursday, December 01, 2011 10:47 AM
To: Joe Subich, W4TV; Drax Felton; [TowerTalk]
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Cost effectivel Tower height

I have received an overwhelming response to my questions.  I should have mentioned a few more points/requirements:

- single multiband beam 40 - 10. No stacks. I am running verticals and wires hanging in trees and can hear ok, but are not being heard well on 40 for example.   I want at least a few S units improvement and F/B would be great as well.
- I like DX and DX contesting, but casually.    Focus on Europe.
- self supporting, no guy wires
- low profile to appease to wife and neighbors
- cheap. This is a hobby for me and I am not retired (:-)
- account for the sloping terrain, so if it can be lower because of it, yes, yes, hence cheaper.

I understand that any multi-band beam is a compromise.
I understand that any beam might not work to its maximum into all DX directions (different angles needed).

At this point, I want to thank all of you for your input. I will run the suggested software and report back with my findings.

Thanks
Andreas
KU7T