As "I" had stated, if those antennas are the only game in town and people
are wanting to buy them, not knowing how to make one, what choice is left?
Though I can build one myself and have, most people won't want a "homemade"
antenna. SO...... No antenna is "perfect". Antennas for the most part are
tested in a set of conditions usually fixed, whereas their use out side
those conditions can vary greatly. Type of cable, length, height of
installation, surroundings, etc... NO antenna can work "as" the factory
suggests, even if there are good points to the antenna. You're setting the
bar way too high. If you've got ideas for better antennas, I'm sure they'd
love to hear from you. CL.

"Volker Tonn" wrote in message
...


Dwight Stewart schrieb:

... Few antennas can beat the utter bandwidth of
a discone and the ground plane is ideal where an even less intrusive
antenna
is desired.


Giving a specification(!) on a groundplane from 25-100Mhz is taking a
customer for a ride. An antenna specified(!) for a frequency *range*
implies at least that it has gain over an isotropic radiator wich is
simply not true for a groundplane "25-1000Mhz".
It would be a different thing in konjunktion with some active elctronics
-wich is not the case-.
And yes, you can have very much success on a simple antenna design. A
CB-whip with top loading coil (in europe known as DV27S -length of
1.4mtr-) is known to be a good performer on _some_ "interesting"
frequency ranges. It works on the same principle like the mentioned
groundplane when installed on a metal sheet ...at a fraction of cost
(less than 10EUR/ 13US$).

Volker