Jack Twilley wrote:
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"Mike" == Mike Coslo writes:


[... David mentioned B&W antennas ...]

Doc David, The bottom line is that it's a terrible 'amateur' antenna
Doc for the price. 'Doc

Jack Out of curiosity, what other antenna provides a better
Jack cost-benefit ratio while maintaining the same constraints with
Jack respect to power, size, and construction?

Mike Hmmm, How about an Isotron? 8^) Man, there is a small antenna!

They're too spooky for me. I don't understand how they work.

No majik there, they work about as well as you would expect an antenna
that size to work. That is, not very well. They look cool though!



Mike If you take the bands that the B&W performs adequately on, the
Mike size ratio between it an a halfwave dipole isn't quite so
Mike good. I suppose the FD that is most comparable to my antenna is
Mike the BWD 90. It's 90 feet, as we might figure. My dipole is 96
Mike feet.

I guess it depends on what you consider "adequate". If your 96-ft
dipole provides comparable SWR matches across all the bands the B&W
antennas allegedly provide, that'd be pretty impressive. Like the
other poster, I noticed that there were no gain figures in the B&W
literature, and that does make me suspicious.

Right, the two antennas are not quite comparable. I have to use a tuner
on my antenna. But that really isn't a handicap IMO. I contest with my
rig, and although I have to be careful on 80 meters, I can change bands
and set the knobs to their proper positions in just a couple seconds.


Mike My dipole cost less than 30 dollars to make. If you count the
Mike tuner, I still spent less money.

Sure, so did I. And my antenna was messed up the following spring,
due to stretched wire, water leaking into critical bits, and more. If
you spent less than thirty dollars and used copperweld or stainless
steel, then I'd like to know what trucks that wire falls off so I can
chase them around town.

Never used copperweld, except for twinlead. You can get it pretty
easily though.

The trick with regular copper is to pre-stretch it. You get a helper or
two on each end, and give a good steady pull to stretch it.

And yeah, Mother Nature can be a b***h sometimes. My dipole has been up
over 2 years now, and is still surviving. That is probably as much luck
as my construction genius! 8^) I'll be taking it down for some
modifications - I'm going to lengthen it so I can tune 80 meters better,
so I'll see soon how the plastic parts held up.

I think what I am driving at here is that everything comes at a price,
some monetary, some functional. Antennas like the B&W FD are great if
you want minimal fuss. That comes at a price in performance though. I
went real cheap. The price I pay is using a tuner. That doesn't bother
me at all - I'm an inveterate knob twiddler!

- Mike KB3EIA -