In article fxzdc.143$cD2.12959@attbi_s51,
Dave Shrader wrote:

IMO applying the word 'Gain' to an antenna is misuse of the word 'gain'.

Since this particular terminology has been used in this way in both
amateur and professional antenna literature for more decades than I've
been alive (I'm pushing 50) I think you're tilting at windmills to try
to eliminate it, or to declare it "misuse".

I personally prefer to refer to what an antenna delivers as
"directional gain", to distinguish it from the sort of "more RF out
than RF in" power gain that an amplifier delivers. From the point of
view of someone trying to deliver a specified amount of power to a
receiver in a specified direction, the two types of "gain" can be
interchanged to a large degree.

Yes, they're distinct, and we need to remember the distinctions, but
they can be traded-off against one another in many common sorts of
calculations.

[At the risk of re-opening a topic of contention, I'll posit that the
use of the term "gain" to refer to both amplifier power gain and to
antenna directional gain is somewhat similar in spirit to the use of
the term "resistance" to refer to both dissipative and nondissipative
impedances. Each is a single term, referring to two different
phenomena which can under many circumstances behave in ways which can
look equivalent from a particular point of view.]

Next question: where do I get a 160 meter 1/2 wavelength 50 ohm slotted
line?

Go down to your nearest abandoned rust-belt factory that has a large
brick or concrete chimney, wrap the chimney with sheet tin (leaving a
slot), and drop a suitable-sized silver-plated cast-iron sewer pipe
down the center. Run your probe up and down the chimney on a huge
pulley.

It'll probably be tricky to couple this to the antenna and feedline,
though. I don't think even Andrews makes a heliax connector quite
this large.

grin

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
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