[TowerTalk] What does -db antenna gain mean?

[Grant Saviers]

I strongly encourage you to read Rudy Severns' great work on radials and 
top loading.  antennasbyn6lf.com

Capacity hat top loading is well proven to beat most (all?) other short 
vertical antenna designs for antenna efficiency and 8 elevated radials 
can do the job of dozens of buried ones.  My 160m wire T short vertical 
has about 50KHz of 2:1 bandwidth.

Grant KZ1W

On 8/8/2017 10:08 AM, Bill Straw via TowerTalk wrote:
> The sunspots are gone and I need a better 160M transmit antenna. My previous Cushcraft MA160V
>
> over 50 X 50' radials worked OK for my expectations, but it had a very narrow bandwidth and the
>
> top loading coil would overheat with more than 500W and shift the resonant frequency so that
>
> the 2K-FA would go to standby. This antenna is for a new QTH.
>
>
> According to a Cebik article, a 160M inverted L over 4 x 50' radials has a -2.2 db gain. I think
>
> a -3 db gain would mean half the power would go into the ground? But if I were running 1500W I
> would still be better off from a transmitting standpoint compared to the old antenna?
>
> Thanks, Bill KO7SS
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