[TowerTalk] TowerTalk Digest, Vol 195, Issue 23

[Drew Vonada-Smith]

Bruce,

KT34 is an old design.  Go with an interlaced antenna.

Bear in mind that Optibeam uses metric tubing, not easily available in US.  Performance is otherwise good, but I would avoid for practical reasons.  Consider JK Antennas Navassa or the new C3 derivative as a better mechanical alternative.  

73,
Drew K3PA

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Message: 2
Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2019 16:00:27 -0500
From: Bruce Jungwirth <k0son at frontiernet.net>
To: Tower Talk <Towertalk at contesting.com>
Subject: [TowerTalk] Antenna advice needed
Message-ID: <EB0EDBCA-FAA0-4C4E-9EA0-3739447C486E at frontiernet.net>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset=utf-8

I?m looking to replace a very old 3 element tribander. I?m looking at either KT34M2, or OptiBeam OB9-5. Both have similar gain and f/b figures. My question, does anyone have experience with these in cold, snowy, and sometimes ice covered conditions. The KT34 has a wind load of 4.5 sq ft, and the OptiBeam 7.8 sq ft probably due to the sq boom and full sized elements(36ft) vs 25ft on the KT34. The antenna will be mounted on a 9 ft quad pod tower on the garage roof, about 30 ft above ground, (can?t afford a real tower set up). Any information will be greatly appreciated.

Bruce  K0SON

Sent from my iPad


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