We did some
experimenting and discovered he gains one s-unit by using the beam
pointed at me vs using the 80 meter loop.

Not unusual really...The big HF antennas have quite a
bit of gain in some directions...Some other direction,
it might be a dud though...Wonder how much gain his
"log" has...Most are fairly average, being they are
covering a pretty wide range. On the other hand,
my 3 el is set up for maximum gain..About 9.4 dbi,
or about 7.25 or so dbd. He may have that much gain,
if he has quite a few elements. I'm probably getting
more bang per buck per pound of metal, at that one
frequency...I often talk off the back and sides.. I don't
have a rotor. If I need to turn it, I have to go out and
"armstrong" the mast...So I note the skip trends at the
time, and turn it that way. Usually east in the early day.
Often later, as the skip drifts west, I'll end up swinging it
around in the evening. Most lately is E skip...Here at this
qth, the HF antennas have gain also, but they are fairly
unusable due to the trashing of the receiver. On the 706,
the yagi really cleans it up. This is probably worth more
here, than the transmit gain. My usual parallel dipole setup
for the low bands is resonant on 6m pretty close. I don't
even need a tuner , if I remember right...I'm sure it's got
some pretty good gain in some directions. But the beam
still smokes it overall. I actually don't get on there all that much,
as I usually don't notice the band openings, and have been
busy also...But all the people I've worked so far gave me
really good reports. I did do a f/b test with it , right after I
built it, and it seemed to jive with the model almost exactly.
Or as far as I could tell with my limited, means of
measurement...The beam is an exact copy of the NBS
yagi in elnec/eznec. MK