[Elecraft] My Experiences with EH antennas on 20 meters

[Ed Tanton]

And that's fine Jerry. Playing around with things is one of ham radio's 
greatest assets. If you want to do it right, however, try performing an A-B 
comparison on the antenna using a switch, with anything else-preferably a 
simple dipole.

We tried a commercially available E-H antenna at NOGaQRP-complete with the 
antenna company's people. The scenario: 20M (I think-might've been 15M); a 
Saturday morning; and 4 different antennas: 1) an E-H; 2) an very-small (~ 
4 ft diameter) loop; 3) a PLP-Vertical; and 4) a full-sized dipole. I 
listened as I switched back and forth multiple times over a period of 20 
minutes-until I was completely satisfied further switching was a waste of 
time.

CONCLUSIONS:
1) There was never a single time the E-H exceeded any of the other 
antennas.  Not even once. Including the Very Small Loop.
2) There was never a single time the E-H was the equal of any of the 
antennas-except the very small loop.
3) There was never a single time the dipole and the PLP-Vertical were not 
NOTICEABLY better than the E-H.

Up until that morning,  had a pretty open mind about such antennas. I 
thought that perhaps they might be at least minimally competitive. 
Absolutely, positively NOT. The antenna company's people were VERY nice to 
bring this unit for our tests-it isn't like I have some axe to grind. They 
made a very nice presentation about how it worked, and I derive no 
satisfaction whatsoever in relating this. If you simply cannot put up any 
other kind of antenna, it is certainly better than nothing.

BUT... two old sayings were never more true than for this antenna test:

1) There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.
2) The bigger, the higher, the better.

I would like to point out that these are my conclusions-not the club's. I 
am not implying the club may have a different conclusion(s)-just that these 
are my own.


73 Ed Tanton N4XY <n4xy@earthlink.net>

Ed Tanton N4XY
189 Pioneer Trail
Marietta, GA 30068-3466

website: http://www.n4xy.com

All emails <IN> & <OUT> checked by
Norton AntiVirus with AutoProtect

LM: ARRL QCWA AMSAT & INDEXA;
SEDXC NCDXA GACW QRP-ARCI
OK-QRP QRP-L #758 K2 (FT) #00057

--------------------------------------------------
"Suppose you were an idiot ...
And suppose you were a member of
Congress...  but I repeat myself."
--Mark Twain
--------------------------------------------------