[Adrian ARC] The new Tower and Antenna Thank You and Update!!

[Mark Hinkleman]

Thanks to all that helped put my tower up yesterday. The weather =
cooperated and I think a good time was had by all.
I have had a chance to play with the antenna and it seems to perform as =
I expected, but there were a few suprises.

1. SWR:  The SWR is great on all bands(CW - SSB). No need for a tuner =
with this thing.

2. GAIN:  I did do some comparison to my C3 at 55ft and the dipoles and =
slopers that I had up. =20

Comparison to Dipoles & Slopers:  The HEX whiped the dipoles and the =
sloper in all cases. All comparisions were made in the favored =
directions for the dipoles. At worse case the HEX was 1 s unit better, =
but most the times it was much better than that. Like S9 dipole, and 20 =
over with HEX.  Bottom line ..... It's what I wanted, an improvement =
over dipoles for 2 radio operation.=20

Comparison to C3:   In most all  cases the C3 ( at 55ft) was better that =
the HEX (at 36 ft). The C3 beat the HEX by around 1/2 s unit.  The =
difference was aways about 1 light bar on the FT1000mp (I think 1/2 S =
unit). There were time when the difference was greater, maybe 1 and 1/2 =
light bar. In these cases the second light bar would flicker a bit.  I =
did notice that the HEX most always had less noise. The difference in =
most cases was so close that if I closed my eyes and listened only, I =
could not hear the difference between the 2 antennas. But on the S =
meter, the C3 was most always better. On 15 meter I worked a ZK2 were I =
could see no Difference between C3 and Hex. The HEX seemed to work best =
on 15. Now, I'm not sure if the HEX beam is works best on 15, or if the =
C3 performance is slightly down on 15. I have suspected this in the past =
(pre hex days). In any case the test proved that any differences were =
minimal.=20

WARC Bands:  The HEX was aways better on the WARC bands than the C3. But =
it was surprising, sometimes the differnce was not that great.  But most =
of the time there was a minimum of a 1/2 to 1 S unit improvement =
(sometimes greater).  It was noted that the HEX had much better =
directivity (F/B F/S) than the C3.  For those of you that dont know. The =
C3 has no cut elements for 12 and 17 meters, but with a tuner it will do =
a pretty good job. I very pleased with the HEX on the WARC bands, but at =
the same time I would say that the C3 was doing a better job than I =
thought when it was when compared to a frequency cut antenna.=20

3. Front to Back:  In most cases the HEX was better than the C3. The HEX =
front to back drops off in the SSB portion of the bands.  I did not play =
with this much  (F/B measurements) but did make the check a couple of =
times. It seemed to confirm what I had read about the HEX.

4. General Impressions:  As I write this message, I realize that I have =
not yet had the antenna up for 24 hours. But at this point I feel that =
this antenna was the right one for me. Remember, My major consideration =
was space!!  I needed a small antenna but at the same time I want =
performace that was as close as possible to the C3 that I already had.  =
While I'm on the subject of what I want, I want 3 towers at 100 feet =
each with stacked beams. etc...........But the bottom line is that that =
is not going to happen here at 108 E. Kilbuck St. , and I'm to lazy to =
move.. hi hi
The bottom line is that the HEX will give me gain in alternate =
directions when needed. Provide a competitive gain antenna for the =
second radio.  Last, but not least, it will keep my wonderful wife happy =
because it fits where she said it had do go!!

That's all for now. Thanks again for all the help!!!!!

73 Mark NU8Z



--- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
multipart/alternative
  text/plain (text body -- kept)
  text/html
The reason this message is shown is because the post was in HTML
or had an attachment. Attachments are not allowed.
Please post in Plain-Text only.---