Ralph Mowery wrote:
"Scott" wrote in message
. ..
Depends what you want. Are you going to use a small Yagi for FM work or a
long boom Yagi for SSB/CW? If you want something fairly simple, a
homemade 6 or 8 element Yagi is fairly simple. Otherwise, for some
serious weak signal work, the K1FO designs are quite commonly used.
Directive Systems sell them...
http://www.directivesystems.com/antenna4.htm
Hope that helps!
Scott
N0EDV
Now you tell me. I just ordered 2 beams from M-Square, one for 432 and one
for 144. Wish I had the K1FO antennas as I had one for 432 and it worked
very well. I did not know anyone had picked up the K1FO design after he
became a SK.
Important correction: Steve Powlishen, K1FO, is NOT an SK! (W9GB had it
correct: the person who died was the co-developer W1EJ.)
W9GB is also correct that they are excellent yagis, and have been
published in several editions of the ARRL Handbook. The most extensive
write-up is in the ARRL Microwave Experimenter's Handbook Volume 1.
Don't worry, you'll be fine with an M2 yagi as well. There is a lot of
convergence between modern long yagi designs, so the state-of-the-art is
that products from all the major manufacturers are very close to optimum
performance in terms of gain and pattern.
There can still be some differences in performance between different
brands, depending mostly on the exact balance between gain, pattern and
bandwidth the designer was trying to achieve. However, these differences
between brands are almost always quite small, so for comparable designs
(ie yagis with the same or very similar boom length, of 2-3 wavelengths
or more) the difference between brands might only be a few tenths of a
dB in terms of gain, and maybe a few dB difference in the levels of
minor sidelobes.
End users will hardly ever notice these differences on the air, so when
choosing which long yagi to buy, you can pay more attention to other
important factors, such as overall size, style of construction,
suitability for your weather conditions, price and dependable product
support.
[I could write a lot more about "optimized" long yagis, but not this
morning. There's more information in the 'Long Yagi Workshop' section of
my website.]
--
73 from Ian GM3SEK
http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek