[TowerTalk] Gain, F/B, Low SWR What to choose

[Courtney Judd]

i agree with you Bill on F/B from the southeast. Here in Alabama i have 
the same results beaming JA and Euro and off the back with my KT36 @ 150 
ft. Down side with good F/B from W1/W2 is they will jump on my run freq 
and not know I am there until a Euro tells the other station that they 
are competing with a K4. As long as i can keep working thru them i will; 
only one i moved for was KC1XX! lol, 73's Cort K4WI
> Bill via TowerTalk <mailto:towertalk at contesting.com>
> Wednesday, April 08, 2015 6:51 AM
> Roger makes a good point about which antenna to choose.
>
> To me gain and a low SWR was most important. Where I have lived, F/B has
> never really mattered. In fact, a low F/B ratio is pretty good to have if
> you are a contester either in FL .
>
> >From FL, 40 degrees is EU which means the back faces the South
> Pacific...not much QRM from that direction. JA is around 325 degrees, 
> which means the
> back of the beam faces South America...not a big deal either. And,
> because the F/B is not all that great, in contests I get lots of calls 
> from VK/ZL
> when I'm beaming EU. The same is true for SA when I'm beaming JA.
>
> Now, if I lived in W1-land F/B would be quite important. I doubt I'd want
> to hear W4s and W5s while running EU.
>
> As always, one size does not fit all. It's critical to do some serious
> thinking about your location before buying that antenna.
>
> K4XS/KH7XS
>
>
> In a message dated 4/8/2015 8:13:42 A.M. Coordinated Universal Time,
> K8RI-on-TowerTalk at tm.net writes:
>
> It depends on the type of operation and your location.
> With a few notable exceptions and the power you run, MOST multi element
> antennas have enough/ample gain. Needing a rugged antenna narrows the
> field. We don't have a lot of wind and I believe we are still in a 70
> MPH area, but heavy ice is not uncommon.
>
> >From Central MI when pointed at the DX short path (except South
> America) There are heavily populated areas putting strong signals when
> the bands are open, So in my case the preferences favor F/B with a
> fairly wide (and low) SWR curve over absolute gain.
>
> Antennas are both pricey and heavy. The C31XR takes a couple of healthy
> hams to put in place as does the
> SteppIR. A nearby ham has a SteppIR and it took a crew to carry it to
> the tower. It took several to hold it while he attached the tilt
> plate. I think its been up around 5 years and I believe he has been
> able to do all or most servicing by himself since then. He occasionally
> shows up on here so he might make a comment.
>
> I 'm sure he likes it, but haven't had any discussions with him about it.
>
> Different bands, but I've found even the rather small F/B of sloapers on
> 75 and 40, as well as the low angle off a good vertical allowed me to
> work stations I couldn't hear for stateside QRM with dipoles. It's less
> of a problem on the higher bands, but it's still a problem most times.
>
> IIRC you don't have to sacrifice much forward gain to get a good F/B.
> I'm not talking about designing for max F/B, but a reasonable compromise
> of good F/B and low SWR over the areas I operate. I think the gain
> should still be "good enough". OTOH I don't have the time, money,
> equipment, or expertise to find out for sure.
>
> I have far too many projects and too little ambition to do them justice
> when it takes me 20 minutes just to install a UHF, or N-type crimp
> connector.<:-)) Maybe I should consider the big SteppIR with 6 meters.
> Then there would be an excess 45G in the neighborhood that currently
> only holds sloapers.
>
> 73
>
> Roger (K8RI)
>
> ---
> This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
> http://www.avast.com
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>