[TowerTalk] OCFD: Should I be able to do better?12

[Keith Dutson]

 I appreciate all of the comments.  The current farm is temporary, but is sufficient to keep me on the air for now, mostly CWops CWT sessions each Wednesday, plus the occasional weekend contest.  I plan to be on at least 8 hours starting 0000 today in the CQ WPX CW.
I am working on a plan that will have rotatable monoband Yagi antennas on 20-6 meters.  There will be two for each band so I can work multi-two contests.  There will also be one rotatable 40 meter 4el Yagi at the top of the 150 foot tower. I also have a 2el full size 80 meter Yagi, but may not have the resources needed to get it installed on a second tower.  So, 80 and 160 will be via wire dipoles.  I hope to have the new farm active by next spring.  Then I will take down the Windoms and hopefully find a buyer.
73, Keith NM5G    On Friday, May 28, 2021, 06:56:01 AM CDT, Rob Atkinson <ranchorobbo at gmail.com> wrote:  
 
 >Suckered?  What exactly do you mean?

I'm not Jim Brown, and I don't play him on TV, but I can tell you that
for decades, there have been ham antenna manufacturers who have taken
advantage of the wishful thinking of some hams along with their desire
to get something for nothing, resulting in cheaply made antennas,
and/or magical mystery all-in-one miracles.

>How do you build a better antenna to cover all bands between 160 and 6 meters?

By not trying to do that.  That's because the laws of physics pretty
much rule out a really efficient antenna with usable patterns that can
cover that wide a range of frequencies.

>I have PROVEN the performance of this setup over the past year working CTW
>every Wednesday.  No problem working all over US, Canada and Europe.

Operating experience doesn't mean much.  You really need to control
for variables as much as possible so the antenna is the only factor.
One way is to test antennas on a range eliminating variables such as
propagation.  Also, ram enough power into almost anything and you'll
get out and make contacts.  Read N6BT's seminal article in QST,
"Everything works"  https://www.okdxf.eu/files/everything_works.pdf
in which he begins by making QSOs with a light bulb.  One important
thing is efficient transfer from the feedline to the antenna.
Antennas aren't black and white, plus or minus propositions.  You can
make contacts with a bedspring, but with a good antenna you can make
more contacts, survive QSB fades, and provide the rx station with good
copy relative to your transmitter power.

>BTW, I have hung the fan dipole made by Alpha Delta.  I was three bands and I
>did not get better results.

Great!  Comparison is the way to begin.  That's how my eyes (or
ears) were opened.

73
Rob
K5UJ
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