[TowerTalk] 10 throu 20 beam traps or no traps

[Joe Subich, W4TV]

> Why not many serious DX-ers and contesters consider Tri-band or even
> Five-band quads is a mystery to me.

1) survivability - quads are much more fragile than yagis with regard
to icing.
2) survivability - wire flexing tends to cause premature failure in
windy environments
3) difficult to handle - a flexible three dimensional structure is
difficult to get on to a tower, particularly a guyed tower.
4) poor performer - the structural/survivability problems make very
long boom quads particularly problematic rendering quads uncompetitive
against very long boom yagis.  The added dimension also makes it
difficult to stack quads.

All that aside, a two or three element quad can be an effective 
alternative to a basic trapped tribander if the user has an unguyed
tower and lives in a benign environment (most don't <G>).

73,

    ... Joe, W4TV


On 2014-06-20 8:17 AM, Herbert Schoenbohm wrote:
> Three bands no traps and great performance the three element Cubex Quad
> wins hands down especially for price and wind load.  Plus with proper
> matching 75 ohm stubs on 10 and 15 I get both CW and SSB coverage below
> 1.5 to 1 over the range. Why not many serious DX-ers and contesters
> consider Tri-band or even Five-band quads is a mystery to me.
>
> Herb Schoenbohm, KV4FZ
>
>
>
> On 6/20/2014 12:30 AM, Jim Brown wrote:
>> On 6/19/2014 7:44 PM, Edwin Karl wrote:
>>> I would recommend Opitbeam over the others in a heart beat, no matter
>>> the size. A
>>> real class act.
>>
>> I've not seen these antennas, but the designs look first rate.
>>
>> From the looks of it, the 9-5 is two elements per band, equivalent to
>> the 2-element SteppIR. The 11-5 appears to be three elements per band,
>> equivalent to the 3-element SteppIR, and the 16-5 looks to be four per
>> band, equivalent to a 4-el SteppIR.
>>
>> I'm very happy with my 3-el SteppIR, and use it all the way up to 6M.
>> Two really good features -- the straight SteppIRs weigh a lot less, so
>> are easier to handle on the tower and don't need as big a rotor.
>> Second, the reversing and bi-directional features are worth it's
>> weight in gold. Except on 6M, where it doesn't work that way, I rarely
>> turn the antenna more than about 100 degrees.
>>
>> Here in CA, South America and Asia are approximately opposite of each
>> other, and the higher bands are often open to both at the same time.
>> Reverse takes something like 3-5 seconds. Likewise, EU and the east
>> coast of the US are opposite to VK/ZL. Very useful in a contest.
>>
>> 73, Jim K9YC
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>>
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