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

[Dave Larson]

Glad to hear it is a success!
Dave, K8AA

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Hinkleman" <cqnu8z@attbi.com>
To: <adrianarc@mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, October 06, 2002 11:30 AM
Subject: [Adrian ARC] The new Tower and Antenna Thank You and Update!!



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.

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.

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.

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.

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



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