The original question was for a 'small' HF beam and the poster said that
the C-3 was too 'big'. Here's my suggestion: Get a C-3SS (the smallest
footprint C-3) and bend the ends of the elements down. You can bend 3-4 feet
of the end element and not notice the difference. The C-3SS has 26-foot
elements; bending each end 3-feet reduces the element length to 20-feet - a
small enough footprint?
I've done this a couple of times where we had elements hitting guys or
encroaching over the property line and it worked great. You can use sand in
the element to prevent element kinking; check the TT archives for past
discussions.
NONE of the 'small' antennas I know of (i.e. MA5, MiniQuad, Butterfly,
etc.) are all compromises in design and offer sub-par performance - the F12
is not a compromise and performs like a full-sized antenna.
Cheers,
Steve K7LXC
TOWER TECH -
Professional tower services for commercial and amateur
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