In article om,
"Steve" wrote:

Just got here today in pristine condition.

Interesting that they give the RF Systems outdoor passive vertical
antenna a lukewarm 2 and 7/8 stars. I never used it, but have heard
good things about it. They were more enthusiastic about the DX-One Pro
(3 and 1/2 stars).

Surprised that the Eavesdropper trap dipole got 4 and 1/8 stars, though
I've never used one and have no reason to believe that its praise isn't
deserved.

At one point Passport says "5 stars is best for any type of antenna,
but in reality even the best of compact antennas don't yet merit more
than four stars when compared against long passive antennas" (p. 214).
This sounds reasonable to me, though I'm not entirely sure what counts
as a "long passive" and "compact". Is the Wellbrook ALA-100 (which
received 4 and 1/2 stars) compact? It certainly can be compact,
depending on how you set it up, but the incarnation of the ALA-100
tested by Passport was 40 ft in circumference. Would the ALA-100, thus
construed, rank behind the 43 ft Eavesdropper dipole in terms of
overall performance, or does the Eavesdropper not qualify as a "long
passive" antenna?

No point in being persnickety, I guess, but I think it would be best to
apply a single grading scheme to all antennas, be they long, compact,
active or passive.

They do use a single grading scheme to all antennas but you do have to
pay attention to the class of antenna so that you compare apples to
apples. The active antennas might range 0-3 where the full size passive
might be 2-5 so when comparing different active antennas you would want
a 3 and if you want the best passive antenna you want a 5.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California