After seeing many monster antennas and helping construct some, it is
quite clear that a lot of the success enjoyed by mini-watt
transmitters using noodle-class antennas is due to a superb station
making up db's lost by the other.
This is not at all to trash these micro setups. I have lived in an
apartment with no possibility of a decent antenna or running more than
50 watts, and have been thrilled to work someone elsewhere in the
world who could actually hear me. The thrill was not the least
diminished by the certain knowledge of the other station's vastly
superior setup.
These days one can get first-class help on constructing stealth
antennas that are the least related to light bulbs that modern
engineering can devise. No need to make do with light bulbs any more.
In the dx contest wars from NY4A we usually receive a qsl or two
telling us we worked them using a 5 watt transmitter with a
base-loaded five foot whip against the balcony rail or some such.
That's why we keep working on the rigs and antennas, so folks with
setups like that can trade QSO's with us, from anywhere in the world.
It's points, and beside that, I remember the thrill.
73.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Hisashi T Fujinaka" <htodd@twofifty.com>
To: "Mike" <W4EF@dellroy.com>
Cc: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Friday, February 01, 2002 2:58 AM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Everything Works QST Article by N6BT
On Thu, 31 Jan 2002, Mike wrote:
> Several longtime hams (all of them EEs) who I know, all came away
with
> same impression that this article, although both very interesting
and
> very entertaining, was borderline advertising for Force 12. I had
the
> same reaction. I thought the article was generally interesting and
> informative. I really enjoyed the story about the curtain array on
> Saipan, and Tom's WAC exploits with the "illuminator". BUT I did
come
> away with the impression that the relative positions of the
> multi-monoband yagis (Force 12???) versus the trapped triband yagis
(the
> competition???) were a bit contrived. Although I surely couldn't
prove
> it, this part of the article smelled like a sell job to me.
Heh. I am a short-time ham (25Y) and an EE and I just envied the
author
for having a quiet location where the lightbulb antenna could "shine."
(I'm going to get it for that one. :) ) I live in the city, near an
industrial area, I have S7-S9 noise on 20M at night. The noise floor
is
fairly high during the day, too.
I've worked plenty of DX with my inverted vee to know that people do
wonders with poor antennas. Heck, people get away with microwatt
transmitter signals at times. (Not me, I've been told that, "Life's
too
short for QRP." :) Those guys think my 100W is QRP, though.)
I just wish I could be somewhere with a low noise floor and enough
space
to put up that light-bulb array. Or something bigger than just a
vertical
and a 10M quad.
--
Hisashi T Fujinaka - htodd@twofifty.com
BSEE (6/86) + BSChem (3/95) + BAEnglish (8/95) + $2.50 = mocha latte
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