Before I became a Ham (Amateur Radio Operator) I got my introduction to
2-way communications via CB-Radio. Hey can't argue too much about it that's
how I met my wife some 31 years ago. Anyway I remember (during the Boom
times) how many manufacturers produced some pretty good antennas that seemed
to have great gain and results. I always wondered why they never applied
some of their methods to Amateur Radio Antennas (well not Shakespeare
because of their high lightning susceptibility).

I wonder how many of the old standard base station antennas are still around
in use or for sale? Such great antennas as the Avanti PDL Quad or Avanti's
Astro Plane or MoonRaker series, or Shakespeare's "Big Stick" which was so
prone to catching Lightning, or the original "Starduster"? I know that now,
these days the Starduster and the Astro Plane are built by the same European
business that purchased the rights to build each but for this post I'm not
talking about the newer Astro Planes or Stardusters but rather the original
models. The Big Stick I think has just faded away but I know there are
still some out there.

Maybe it was just youth but I thought those were great antennas and the only
Amateur antenna that I really sang praises about was a HyGain HyQuad which
actually stood up to an ice storm pretty well for me. Sold long ago but
wish I still had that thing. I think the only ones that liked it better
than me was the birds.

Gary KW4Z wrote:
...

Most, if not all, cb antennas came from others work in the past. The
1/4~ ground plane was in use in amateur communications long before cb,
so the yagi beam, the quad beam, etc., etc.

Indeed, I don't know how long it has been now since I have seen anything
"really new" in antenna theory, design, or construction ... a decade?
Two? Three? Four? More?

I think you will find most hams had the ability to build their own
antennas (knowledge, source of materials, help, etc.) and found that a
much more economical way to go. Plus, there is much satisfaction in
building ones own antenna. And, it is easy to produce much more robust
and quality when doing so, as opposed to manufacturers who have to pay
attention to cost at every level.

Regards,
JS

Granted, and totally right. After achieving my Amateur Radio license and
purchasing a Kenwood TS520S I built my first antenna, an inverted Vee.
Worked great but my point, about the post, was that many of those CB
antennas, for using 4 watts only, really did shine and the noise rejection
or level of noise with some was tremendous. I wouldn't take anything away
from Ham's building their own antennas and feel that's the best way but I do
miss the jumps in design account of the CB Boom of the 70's.


On 12/28/06 11:14 PM, in article , "John Smith I"
wrote:

Gary KW4Z wrote:
...

Most, if not all, cb antennas came from others work in the past. The
1/4~ ground plane was in use in amateur communications long before cb,
so the yagi beam, the quad beam, etc., etc.

Indeed, I don't know how long it has been now since I have seen anything
"really new" in antenna theory, design, or construction ... a decade?
Two? Three? Four? More?

I think you will find most hams had the ability to build their own
antennas (knowledge, source of materials, help, etc.) and found that a
much more economical way to go. Plus, there is much satisfaction in
building ones own antenna. And, it is easy to produce much more robust
and quality when doing so, as opposed to manufacturers who have to pay
attention to cost at every level.

Regards,
JS

Gary KW4Z wrote in
:

....
rejection or level of noise with some was tremendous. I wouldn't take
anything away from Ham's building their own antennas and feel that's
the best way but I do miss the jumps in design account of the CB Boom
of the 70's.
....

I don't know how many of our new 6 hour hams I have worked on 40m who are
using a Station Master (a 11m half wave with a base parallel tuned matching
network) fed with 20m or so of RG58C/U and an ATU on 40m, and
astonishlingly, VSWR is less than 1.01!

We owe a lot to that CB technology!

Owen

Yup, if it wasn't for CB the retail market wouldnt have done so well in
the past. Today we have no newcomers to buy things prefering to zero in
on computors which is what the ham community is also doing tho to a
lesser extent since age prevents change somewhat.
Coffee breaks are now in vogue except for the few who miss the
perceived statue they once attained and where others can pile in with
grammer punctuated by swear words. But that is the same all over
America we are a split society and continue to grow that way knowing a
few bad apples will always overcome the britest in the barrel.

Owen Duffy wrote:
Gary KW4Z wrote in
:

...
rejection or level of noise with some was tremendous. I wouldn't take
anything away from Ham's building their own antennas and feel that's
the best way but I do miss the jumps in design account of the CB Boom
of the 70's.
...

I don't know how many of our new 6 hour hams I have worked on 40m who are
using a Station Master (a 11m half wave with a base parallel tuned matching
network) fed with 20m or so of RG58C/U and an ATU on 40m, and
astonishlingly, VSWR is less than 1.01!

We owe a lot to that CB technology!

Owen

"Gary KW4Z" wrote in message
...
Before I became a Ham (Amateur Radio Operator) I got my introduction to
2-way communications via CB-Radio. Hey can't argue too much about it
that's
how I met my wife some 31 years ago. Anyway I remember (during the Boom
times) how many manufacturers produced some pretty good antennas that
seemed
to have great gain and results. I always wondered why they never applied
some of their methods to Amateur Radio Antennas (well not Shakespeare
because of their high lightning susceptibility).

I wonder how many of the old standard base station antennas are still
around
in use or for sale? Such great antennas as the Avanti PDL Quad or
Avanti's
Astro Plane or MoonRaker series, or Shakespeare's "Big Stick" which was so
prone to catching Lightning, or the original "Starduster"? I know that
now,
these days the Starduster and the Astro Plane are built by the same
European
business that purchased the rights to build each but for this post I'm not
talking about the newer Astro Planes or Stardusters but rather the
original
models. The Big Stick I think has just faded away but I know there are
still some out there.

Maybe it was just youth but I thought those were great antennas and the
only
Amateur antenna that I really sang praises about was a HyGain HyQuad which
actually stood up to an ice storm pretty well for me. Sold long ago but
wish I still had that thing. I think the only ones that liked it better
than me was the birds.

IT was your youth. (|)

On Sun, 31 Dec 2006 11:38:01 -0500, "Jimmie D"
wrote:

.... excerpted...

IT was your youth. (|)


Or maybe the sun spots :-)

bob
k5qwg

I don't know how many of our new 6 hour hams I have worked on 40m who are
using a Station Master (a 11m half wave with a base parallel tuned
matching
network) fed with 20m or so of RG58C/U and an ATU on 40m, and
astonishlingly, VSWR is less than 1.01!

We owe a lot to that CB technology!

Owen


Sounds like a poor substitute for a good 40 meter antenna to me.
Ace - WH2T
BTW my dummy load has a 1:1 VSWR on 40 meters but it doesn't hear very well.