[Lowfer] Henf / GAP antenna

[Tom Rauch]

> I fully agree with your assessment on this. Why the US Patent office
> allowed a patent on this nearly 100% standard way to build a small
> vertical is beyond me.

They allowed someone to patent a regular T-network tuner, 
because it has a fixed capacitor in one leg that can be switched 
from side-to-side.

They allowed patents for close spaced and "sleeve" coupled 
elements in yagis even though TV antenna manufacturers used 
that in the 60's and earlier. Finco had a six and two meter antenna 
with parallel mutual coupled dipoles for multiband operation as I 
recall. My first triband yagi, I can't recall the manufacturer's name,  
was built with decoupling sleeves.  

Butternut was forced to not build an antenna because of the bogus 
patent, because they didn't want to spend money fighting it.

Patents now have become a way to hold a market, even if the 
design is old prior art, and a way to trick people into spending 
money.
73, Tom W8JI
W8JI@contesting.com