I'm here to confirm everything that Gary just said. I would often
listen to Gary (who lived maybe 30 miles from me at the time) work VK/ZL
one after another, giving them S9+20 reports while I couldn't hear them
at all .... and I have a K3 at a very quiet location. On the other
hand, I've been in major contests where I was able to work Europe a full
hour before anyone else west of Texas. As Gary says, the difference
between a huge antenna and a simple one is a very few db, whereas the
difference created by terrain or propagation can be several tens of db.
The HFTA plots of my QTH at http://www.ab7e.com/HFTA/AB7E_HFTA.html tell
the tale. The dark blue lines represent Europe, while the light green
ones represent Oceania (aka my dummy load). It's amazing what a primary
lobe less than 2 degrees can do ....
73,
Dave AB7E
On 7/13/2016 8:18 AM, StellarCAT wrote:
not to thread on your enthusiasm, and I'm sure you know this, but the
reason why he (or anyone for that matter) is above the rest of the
stations isn't the antenna - or at least its just a factor in the
overall scheme of things ... propagation is a key factor as is
location, location location.
Before I recently moved to South Carolina I used HFTA extensively to
vet every home we were looking at .... in 6 months found zero that met
all our criteria - so instead I found 11+ acres that was great re HFTA
(and ok for most other things) and bought it - built a house and am
now assembling a station ... angle is the most important factor
(assuming propagation is there - or compared to another station
nearby) in that it can make an average antenna - even a dipole - out
perform a large array ... HFTA will tell you this and I personally
know - when I was in Arizona Dave, AB7E, was on the side of a mountain
with a gentle slope towards EU out for miles - when modeled his
location equipped with a dipole at 40' would outperform my 3/3/3 on 20
meters - towards EU .... and I'd hear VK's 20 over that he couldn't
tell were there!
I only write this because it appears you're suggesting that it is this
antenna that makes all these stations above the pack. Generally
speaking the difference between an average 3 element beam on a
compromised boom (length) and a monobander is only 2 or 3 db...
Gary
K9RX
-----Original Message----- From: PAUL924@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2016 4:17 PM
To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: [TowerTalk] Something new in the air...
Hi Guys,
I recently had a QSO with Amir 4X6TT and even during these poor
propagation conditions he was 59+ 20db on 20 meters. I asked him what
type of antenna
he was using and he said a GPX 16-3 which I had never heard of before. I
located the website _www.gpxantennas.com_
(http://www.gpxantennas.com/) .
owner SP7GPX. After I signed with him several other stateside stations
using
antennas from this site called him and they were also very loud.
I wanted share this information with those members of TowerTalk who may
not be familiar with these antennas.
73,
Paul W2JGQ
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