On Mon, 24 Mar 2008 03:28:19 GMT, "usmcbrat"
wrote:

"John Ferrell" wrote in message
I just did a quick simulation on EZNEC of your proposed Quad. At 215
mhz the element spacing on the boom is about 1 foot. That means a 4
element yagi or quad should come out to 3 feet long. Similarly, the
element loops will be about 1 foot square.

That sounds *exactly* like the one that we used in our training. The guy
who made it said that he used an antenna design calculator on the internet
to come up with the layout. I'm still awaiting plans from him, and in the
meantime I'm interested in seeing if I can do it myself for the technical
exercise.

Again, I would suggest a search of the Google archives in research of
the term "Foxhunting." Antennas with such gain may appear the obvious
choice by graphics of their radiation characteristics, but there are
more matters to location than putting a signal in the peak of a lobe.

I have a friend who has lead many Search and Rescue operation in the
city looking for patients who have "wandered away." Quite frequently
they passed by their quarry (quite closely) simply because of the
urban clutter that presents antennas with these characteristics very
confusing results.

On the other hand, and as many sailors may attest, sharp nulls are
often more compelling location indicators. Such an antenna as the
W8JK with variable phasing can give you both sharp nulls and general
gain (through careful selection of the drive point) on a shorter boom
(and could be designed in the way of a quad).

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC