[TowerTalk] antenna choices

[Jim Brown]

On Mon,4/6/2015 8:14 PM, Matthew King - KK4CPS wrote:
> What are you unhappy with about the T11, and what are you looking to
> improve?

Yes, that's the real question. Part of that is to know the forward gain 
of the T11. I see a single number for gain for an antenna that covers 
two octaves of frequency. Somehow I don't trust that number on all 
bands. Also, by the gain numbers (5.8 dBd, 7.94 dBi, 13.14 dBi @ 1 
wavelength height) I see an asterisk, but no note to go with the 
asterisk.  :) There's an LPDA design in the ARRL Handbook -- it's 12 
elements on a 26 ft boom, 2 ft longer than the T11. It's gain is 6.6 - 
6.9 dBi, which is 1 - 1.3 dB less than the gain claimed for the T11, so 
there's either some design magic or some specsmanship happening with the 
T11. :).

Now, look at the Optibeam numbers and description. This is a 2-el Yagi 
on all bands except 10M and maybe 12M. The gain numbers are 4.3-4.5 dBd 
which translate to 6.45 - 6.65 dBi (free space). That's slightly better 
than a near perfect 2-el Yagi, so there's either some design magic or 
some specsmanship happening here too. :)

Now look at the 3-el SteppIR -- 7.4 dBi on 20M, 8.3 dBi on 17, 8.5 on 
15, 8.8 on 12, 9 dBi on 10M, and 10.1 dBi on 6M (with 4th fixed 
element). Those numbers are quite believable for a 3-el monoband Yagi on 
an 18 ft boom. The gain is lower on 20M because the boom is a bit short 
for 20M, and the gain improves as the boom gets longer as a fraction of 
a wavelength.

So -- repeating the question, what do you hope to achieve by going to 
another antenna? There seems to be no question that the Optibeam is 
ruggedly built, but it's unlikely that it will perform measurably better 
that what you have. Folks are always saying that whatever they have is 
wonderful, usually based on all the DX they worked. But the basic facts 
are that if you want more gain, you need more elements PER BAND and a 
longer boom, also between elements. For example -- with the Optibeam, 
there are two 20M elements and they appear from the photo to be only 
about 8 ft apart. That's awfully closed spaced for 20M -- the SteppIR 
has 3 el 8 ft apart, and that spacing is short for 20M.

The OB 11-5 (3-el/band, 19 ft boom) looks to be the performance 
equivalent of the 3-el SteppIR, the 16-5 (4-el/band, 33 ft boom) the 
performance equivalent of the 4-el straight SteppIR. At the current 
EU-dollar value, the 11-5 is about $1,650, the 16-5 about $2,640. The 
SteppIRs are about $2,000 and $2,800 respectively.

73, Jim K9YC