I took down my 40' Aluminum tower and Cubex 5-band quad (separate feeds for
each band) over a year ago before moving away for a year. The quad was a
wonderful antenna, especially good for listening. Full coverage on all
bands without any adjustments.
I now have a 55' crankup tower in place and an getting ready to put the
quad up again. (I have new element wires for it. Recovering the existing
element wires became too messy.) I am not quite as young as I used to be
and am not a good climber --- this prompted the switch to the crankup.
Working the crank is a little more exercise than I expected but that might
be a good thing.
The downside for a quad is the mechanical handling. The three dimensional
structure is awkward to deal with until it is in place on a mast -- it is
also difficult in a crankover situation. The separate feeds for each band
optimizes the antenna operation but the feeds are a little messy between
the 5-way relay (mounted on the boom of the quad) and the feed points.
I am wondering if a 3 element SteppIR would provide any noticable
improvements in my situation. The SteppIR is probably easier to handle and
the 180 degree switch appears to be a very nice feature, but is this
sufficient to justify switching? Does anyone have experiences about quad
vs SteppIR?
Bill
W2WO
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See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather
Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions
and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
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