Steve wrote:
I picked one of these up because it's received really solid reviews
from a lot of people. So far I have been using it on the tropical bands
and I have to say I'm disappointed. At my location (Brooklyn) its
performance is consistently inferior to that of my LF Engineering H-800
"Skymatch" and Wellbrook ALA-330S loop (which isn't really at its best
on the tropical bands).

I have to believe that there's something about my location or setup
that prevents the mini-whip from realizing its full potential. Although
lots of people complain about its being a noisy antenna, I don't find
it to be any more prone to noise pickup than the H-800. While I found
its performance to lag behind that of the H-800, I'd say it was
comparable to some of the other active whips I've used over the years.
For the money, it's still a good value, but I frankly cannot imagine
this antenna being competitive with a beverage antenna or large scale
loop.

And yet....plenty of credible people report that the mini-whip IS
competitive in this field.

What can I say? I just report on what I find in my tiny little corner
of the universe.

Steve

Like most active antennas, the PAORDT suffers from serious common mode
susceptability issues. It is really only half of an antenna because it
doesn't
include a real ground and instead uses the outside of the coax for
that.

By mounting one on a 8' ground rod in moise soil and adding enough
ferrite
beads to choke off common mode noise this antenna does an aceptable, if
not respectable job.

Terry