I'm having a hard time seeing the "minimal reactance" part of this
design. Looking at the plot of S11 it looks pretty much like any
other antenna with a single resonance.

It has "minimal" reactance at resonance and is highly reactive
elsewhere.

It looks to me as if this is a member of the "Super C" antenna...
short, relatively low radiation resistance, and a lot of top-loading
capacitance.

There's an article or two in one of the early ARRL Antenna Compendium
collections (#1 or #2) which analyzes the "Super C" approach, compared
to a short vertical with a more traditional capacity hat made of
straight wires. The analysis seemed to add up to "Probably not worth
the trouble and money", as a similar efficiency can be achieved more
easily and less expensively with the traditional approach. There's a
*lot* of metal in the MRA, and at the price of aluminum this month I
doubt it's a project I'd start.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

Dave Platt wrote:

I'm having a hard time seeing the "minimal reactance" part of this
design. Looking at the plot of S11 it looks pretty much like any
other antenna with a single resonance.

It has "minimal" reactance at resonance and is highly reactive
elsewhere.


It looks to me as if this is a member of the "Super C" antenna...
short, relatively low radiation resistance, and a lot of top-loading
capacitance.

There's an article or two in one of the early ARRL Antenna Compendium
collections (#1 or #2) which analyzes the "Super C" approach, compared
to a short vertical with a more traditional capacity hat made of
straight wires. The analysis seemed to add up to "Probably not worth
the trouble and money", as a similar efficiency can be achieved more
easily and less expensively with the traditional approach. There's a
*lot* of metal in the MRA, and at the price of aluminum this month I
doubt it's a project I'd start.

Yea, but put in on a rotator and add some horses and it could double as
a merry-go-round. :-)

ac6xg

In article ,
Jim Kelley wrote:

Yea, but put in on a rotator and add some horses and it could double as
a merry-go-round. :-)

Y'know, I had *started* to add a paragraph to my posting suggesting
that this antenna could be disconnected from its feedline and used as
a jungle gym, but decided that it was a trifle irresponsible to do so.
Too much potentially-sharp metal edges to have around the kiddies, and
there's always that chance that Dad might accidentally key up QRO at
the wrong moment. "Honey, I smoked the kids!"

:-)

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

Dave:

Just one comment from me--ROFLOL!!!! (Rolling On the Floor Laughing Out
Loud!) WIDE-grin

Regards,
John

"Dave Platt" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Jim Kelley wrote:

Yea, but put in on a rotator and add some horses and it could double as
a merry-go-round. :-)

Y'know, I had *started* to add a paragraph to my posting suggesting
that this antenna could be disconnected from its feedline and used as
a jungle gym, but decided that it was a trifle irresponsible to do so.
Too much potentially-sharp metal edges to have around the kiddies, and
there's always that chance that Dad might accidentally key up QRO at
the wrong moment. "Honey, I smoked the kids!"

:-)

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

He was saying that his patent was about to be issued, he also mentioned
something about a fractal top. At that point I QSYed.

"Dave Platt" wrote in message
...
I'm having a hard time seeing the "minimal reactance" part of this
design. Looking at the plot of S11 it looks pretty much like any
other antenna with a single resonance.

It has "minimal" reactance at resonance and is highly reactive
elsewhere.

It looks to me as if this is a member of the "Super C" antenna...
short, relatively low radiation resistance, and a lot of top-loading
capacitance.

There's an article or two in one of the early ARRL Antenna Compendium
collections (#1 or #2) which analyzes the "Super C" approach, compared
to a short vertical with a more traditional capacity hat made of
straight wires. The analysis seemed to add up to "Probably not worth
the trouble and money", as a similar efficiency can be achieved more
easily and less expensively with the traditional approach. There's a
*lot* of metal in the MRA, and at the price of aluminum this month I
doubt it's a project I'd start.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

Fred W4JLE wrote:
He was saying that his patent was about to be issued, he also mentioned
something about a fractal top.

A balanced fractal top hat cannot be beat!!! :-)
That's one of the things that fractals are good at.
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp


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Yes Cecil! Quite in vogue in manly hatwear!!! (hat-ware too!) grin

Regards,
John

"Cecil Moore" wrote in message
...
Fred W4JLE wrote:
He was saying that his patent was about to be issued, he also mentioned
something about a fractal top.

A balanced fractal top hat cannot be beat!!! :-)
That's one of the things that fractals are good at.
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp


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