[TowerTalk] N6BT, Force12inc and JK Antennas

[Jim Brown]

On Thu,11/20/2014 12:38 PM, Kelly Taylor wrote:
> f every manufacturer applied the same level of, shall we call it optimism?,
> to their claimed gain and F/B figures, it appears the C3 worked better than
> fixed-spacing, three-el tribanders.
>
> Be curious to know if that's held up in actual on-air operation.

The first link is to a report by Ward Silver, N0AX, on measurements that 
he and K7LXC did almost fifteen years ago on the C3 and several other 
tri-banders. Ward is now editor of the ARRL Handbook and ARRL Antenna 
Book. Both of N6BT's antennas measured better than the tribanders in 
their size and class. That is, the C3 beat the small tribanders, the 
larger one beat the large tribanders. In those days, the others all used 
traps.

http://www.championradio.com/HF-TRIBANDER-PERFORMANCE-TEST-METHODS-RESULTS.2

The second link is to a collection of applications notes by N6BT on the 
topic of antenna design. In it, he went through the math to show that 
the gain numbers claimed by manufacturers of tribanders were 3-5 dB 
greater than a theoretically ideal antenna. In other words, they were 
lying. There's plenty of other stuff, including dimensions for his 
designs of monoband and multiband Yagis for the HF and VHF bands.

http://www.championradio.com/ARRAY-OF-LIGHT-Straight-talk-about-antennas-and-related-subjects-Third-Edition.113

My neighbor, W6GJB, owns two C3SS tribanders that we use on Field Day 
and California QSO Party county expeditions. They play very well.

73, Jim K9YC