Dear TowerTalkers
Your Excellency W8JI
All those that I cheated out of the dBs!
(Those with heart condition, please don't take it too seriously :-)
First I would like to thank to all those who made a "mistake" and understood
what I was trying to convey, expressed their comments here or in private
emails to me. Your support made me realize that perhaps I am not complete
idiot, cheat and a liar. It is very much appreciated and confirms my belief
that not all hams are RF damaged or brain dead.
For those others, let me try to paint the picture, see if that can maybe get
through and do some good.
Internet reflectors seem to reflect the personalities of their reflectees. So
lets try to retrace some steps in the case Quad vs. Yagi thread.
Unsuspecting ham asks question, what is better to put up? Quads or Yagis.
He gets answers: put up Yagis! put up Quads! Then the professor W8JI comes in
with the final judgment: quads, loops are bunch of no good folklore, bent
dipoles, old fashioned, dummy loads, so fuggetabout loops! (some hyperbole
used here and further down for illustration purposes and to inject some humor
for those who can still laugh).
Yuri reads that, thinks, hey, I played with quad loops, they have some
gain and benefits over dipoles (Yagis, yada, yada). He used them in his
hybrid Quad-Yagi antenna design to maximize the performance in search for max
gain per boom length. He found by experiments (not very "scientific" by
today's software antenna designer's standards) that he could achieve that.
After 3 months of freezing his butt in the dark of Canadian winter - bunch of
2m baby Razors designs were born. They beat their commercial KLM yagi cousins
on (crude) antenna test range (that's where the gain game and proof was
done). Scaled components were used to approximate the link between 2m and 15m
scaling. (The complete Razor story will be written someday, it is quite
interesting.)
Next thing, Yuri couldn't wait to build the real thing for HF bands and
try to it out. He built the 5 el babies, they were great, then 7 el. log
Razors they were killers. Whata fun chasing DX, cracking pileups barefoot,
creaming WORLD records and nailing ALL Canadian records on single band (only
one escaped, 10m CQ WW SSB 10m by VE6 made year before when condx were
better).
Those accusers of me making things up and some VE7 beating me with TH6,
can go back to pre 1986 results and check it out, it is all there recorded in
CQ WPX and WW results. But this is beside the point (another topic for
nitpickers on the wrong tangent). I used some of those experiences to
ILLUSTRATE that Razors were no dummy loads, not to make a claim that
professor figured out: "Yuri claims Razor is 30 dB better than dipole, whatta
idiot!"
So when I saw W8JI dumping on quads and making WRONG statements, I
pointed out what I knew, experienced and posted my opinion. Trying to
illustrate the point I mentioned some of the things I experienced. The
result? (happened before) Tom ignores facts and objections, "finds" 30dB
claim and - "I win"! The other Rauchians unleash their keyboards and attack
the "liar, cheat, etc." Instead of making Tom explain how come Quad loop
can't have a larger aperture, if it has at least .56dB (according to W8JI)
gain over dipole (he stated himself that aperture is tied to the gain) and
other things, the chorus joins Tom in ignoring answering the points brought
by "dummy" and start ripping him on "outrageous claims." You read the rest,
those who know the stuff, know what I mean, those unenlightened, well, you
saw it....
I stand behind the claims I made, they can be verified. Ask W9RE why he
had Razors for close to 20 years and replaced them recently. Would you keep
piece of crap for that long? He also made some impressive scores in the
contests from Midwest using Razors (called them Quagis :-( !)
Again, I wrote what I know, I am not selling anything, not looking for
any "glory" "recognition" or whatever. I am just happy ham, playing with
radios, learning, building station equipment and antennas so I can go and try
to do my best in the contest and cream the competition. That's where my
whatever gets measured and when I see my call on the top, that is my reward
(and cigar). That's IT. So I don't care what some of those that can't read,
think about me and make up things that were not intended to be.
Reflectors and NG seem to have life of their own. Like one asks the
question, people read something else and they answer things that were not
asked and take off on tangents that are not related to the subject. I
realized that, and I am not going to engage in "defending" myself from the
"crimes" I have not committed. I might reconsider future postings if I see
something wrong, I have already bitten keyboard many times, but sometimes you
just can't stomach it, and there we go again (like now).
Like example, when I asked about anyone experiencing working with radials
over salt water "ground." I got lessons about everything else, but the
question asked. Ooooookay! I got the point.
Tom has history (not just with me) of "battles" when he is proven wrong
in his statements, then he pulls back, then goes quiet for a while, and then
at some later point becomes guru and a professor on the subject. It is
commendable when one learns, but honorable thing is to give a credit where is
due and big men admit error or wrong (the biggest ones might even say sorry,
or apologize).
The lesson I learned (I still learn in my advanced age)? The reflectors
are a minefield, you don't know what you can step on. If W2PV, W6SAI or other
notables were around here, they could be stomped out and made look like
idiots. Better approach seem to be (psssst, I see some are doing it, hi
there) is to lurk in the back, read the stuff, pick up some good things, then
write about them in an article, or even better, book, then you will be
"somebody." If you don't have email or are not exposed to attacks on
internet, then you might live longer.
So to friends who enjoy my "crap," I will try to write on subjects in
form of articles either for magazines, where I would try to explain things in
better terms in hope to avoid some stuff that took on its own life like here.
My only problem was, and still is - available time to do that. My first
priority is my family, work, then radio contesting. I seem to be always
running out of time to do things that I want to use in the next contest
(before I get too old to hack 48 hours), never mind writing it up. I am
hoping that thing will eventually change and I will get around to write in
the format that is more understandable and I will post here notice and
pointers to the article.
I am willing to carry on meaningful exchanges, but not stuff like
happened on another NG where I was made to be illegal alien and a criminal. I
can only take so much, and will QSY like some other valuable contributors to
ham forums did.
I am sorry that I can't at this point engage in answering all those
postings accusing me of things that are not, but I have no time for that, I
am in the process of mastering EZNEC and designing next generation of "no
good" antennas for the salt water frontier, WPX is approaching fast and I am
still searching for the magic solution. W7EL's EZNEC (thanks Roy!) is a
magnificent tool to evaluate various configurations, but I don't trust it
100%, real life model evaluation and verification will follow. Some
interesting stuff is brewing already.
I would like to thank Mr. administrator - Steve, K7LXC for putting up
with all this and having the best reflector. Some leeway is beneficial, lot
of good comes out of it for those with open eyes and minds. Those others,
well ....
What can I possibly get from all this? If you like what I have to offer,
please give me a call and a point (five nine something, good luck) in the
next contest. If you hate my guts or I cheated you out of dBs, call me and
tell me (five five something, you suck :-). That's all I need and appreciate
for all the commotion I have caused. I could be hiding behind one of the
calls below, or something more rare if I get my act together and travel to
one of them 3 point countries.
Thanks you for your support and have a nice day!
Yuri, <A HREF="http://members.aol.com/k3bu/index.htm";>K3BU</A>, <A
HREF="http://members.aol.com/ve3bmv/index.htm";>VE3BMV</A>, VE1BY
<A HREF="http://members.aol.com/k3bu/TeslaRC.htm";>Tesla Radioclub</A> N2EE,
NT1E, VA1A, VC1A
--
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