Stuart, K5KVH wrote:
"If your Carolina Windom is about 135 feet long, It is NOT going to have
10 dB of gain on 60m over a dipole! Beware of manufacturers claims,
usually they are quoting for 10m and over isotropic source, and any other
way they can bend physics to get inflated gain numbers!"
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I agree with Stuart. It would take one helluva antenna to have 10 dBi
(or dBd) gain in free space. However, over "average" soil an antenna can
easily have more than 10 dBi (not dBd) gain in the far field. I
seriously doubt that this would be possible with the Carolina Windom.
But the rule is: no more than 50 watts of ERP while using a dipole at 0
dBd as a reference. Although that dipole has far field gain over real
ground, it is still the 0 dBd reference.
I would think that the Carolina Window has less gain at 5.4 MHz than a
dipole, so don't be afraid to run 50 watts out of your transmitter with
that antenna.
As Stuart said, "Caveat Emptor" when it comes to manufacturers' claims of
gains, even when they state the environment the antenna is in for the
claimed gains.
73, de Earl, K6SE
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