A tower on the way; antenna considerations
The decision has been made – a 50ft/16m Rohn 25 tower and Ham IV rotator are on order and will be installed here sometime during the month of July.
I have about 5 days to determine which antenna will be held aloft and have narrowed it down to four but the real decision is – Yagi or quad?
All three of the Yagis are very similar in characteristics and I doubt any difference could be discerned in their on the air performance. Yagis are low maintenance antennas though – put ‘em up and forget about them for several seasons. I’m not sure that’s the case with quads.
In the quad’s favor are its light weight, small wind load and small turning radius – and better performance. The tower’s installation site places it 20 feet from a sweetgum tree so several branches would have to be removed tower-side for the Yagis…but not the quad (yet?). Fortunately, the tree is at a slight angle so the higher parts are farther from where the tower will be.
Also favoring the quad is the fact that is isn’t necessarily stuck at being a tribander. Elements can be added for 12 and 17 meters. Weather isn’t a factor here as icing would never occur. And finally, an additional element could be added to the quad later, making it a 3 or 4 element antenna with performance far exceeding that of a similar Yagi.
But besides possible maintenance issues is the fact that a quad would require a remote switch to enable selection of driven element based on which band I was on.
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Themocracy
Good evening g John, the Gem Quad sounds like the way to go and it can be added to with the WARC bands as well. Adding a 3rd or 4th element in the future is also a great feature. The final thing is the price and that too seems to be bang on as well. The gain is at the top as well and will only get better with more elements.
Yeah, and Gem-Quad is a Canadian company, eh?! Are you on their payroll?!
There are two reasons I’m hesitating: a 3D antenna is more visible and the antenna would extend 9 feet down the tower making a portion of the tower unusable for supporting wire antennas. I have to have an order in with someone by Monday.
Thanks for your input.
Well John yes it is a good old Canadain company for sure…..”Eh” last time I checked I was not on the payroll….BUT you never know!!! True if you were wanting to put up some wire antennas then yes 9 feet (at least) is an issue.
Hi John,
I’d love to be in your position. What a dilemma! My first antenna was a hombrewed 10/15 meter quad. I’d choose the quad again, but the Yagi would be less maintenance. Decisions, decisions…
73 de Bob W3BBO
Hi Bob,
Less maintenance due to your PA weather or weather overall? We don’t have your snow/ice issues to deal with here but do occasionally have tropical storms from the Gulf bringing 40-50 mph winds with rain.
The 15m Moxon I built and used briefly a few months ago was a real eye-opener for me – at less than half the height of my dipole, it performed as well or better and it was barely above the roofline. F/B was amazing for such a simple antenna and made me want those features on other bands with an antenna at a greater height. That cheap little Moxon may turn out to be the most expensive antenna I’ve ever used!
A landline QSO with WG5G (340 confirmed with 5 watts!) last night has me just about convinced to get a Hazer for the tower, enabling me to raise and lower the antenna from ground level. This would also make quad installation/maintenance easier since their 3-dimensionality makes them more difficult to install than Yagis.
I say Gem Quad’s 7 dBd claim for a 2-el quad is pure …. erm, let’s just say questionable. I also am not sure about 6 dBd for a trapped Yagi either. I’d look at untrapped Yagi’s like the Force12 C-3 — they claim 4 dBd, which is closer to a real world number.
I think an advantage of a Yagi is they are flat, which means you could always come back later and a second antenna to the mast, like a shorty 40 or a WARC yagi. With a quad it pretty much takes up the whole tower. Whatever you choose, congrats on having the luxury of having this dilemma :-)
Jim, I really don’t know what the gain is for a modeled 2-el quad but the elements aren’t a compromised length (traps, etc) nor is the spacing compromised for any band vs. another due to the spider’s geometry as compared to a Yagi. I have been told about the C3 and is does look promising – 5 bands, a small size and not too heavy…but $1200!
And you’re absolutely right about the advantages of a flat Yagi – room for my sitting-in-the-garage 6m Yagi to finally have a perch.
Hey John,
Good luck with whatever you decide to go with. My only experience with quads has been talking with guys who swore they would never own one again. Admittedly, that’s been up here where ice is a factor. In TX, I doubt you’d have to worry about that.
73 de Larry W2LJ
A very detailed and thoughtful email from Dave G4AON included this link that others might be interested in – real-world comparisons of several popular Yagis:
http://www.qsl.net/gm3woj/yagiantenna.htm
Dave has some inspiring info of his own at:
http://www.astromag.co.uk/quad/
And Dave doesn’t know it but it was his detailed K3 review that pushed me over the edge back when my gray matter was oscillating between the K3 and Ten Tec’s Jupiter (thanks Dave!):
http://www.astromag.co.uk/k3/
Hi John,
Have you considered a Spiderbeam? Available in 5-band version (20-17-15-12-10 meters), and small wind load…
Cheers,
Frank PA4N
I have, Frank but they are more compromise (due to the bent elements) than I’d like. The Gem-Quad is also out since it is incompatible with the Hazer. This reduces the options to a Cubex quad or a traditional triband Yagi.
Probably worth the $20 is the yagi comparisons booklet at Champion Radio. But your timeline might preclude that.
Most of the small yagi’s are compromised by having relatively short booms. 2-el Quads are fun, but more difficult to fly and maintain. But most all of them beat dipole well enough that you will be well pleased, especially at 50+ feet.
Good luck with the project. Safety first….
73 de w4kaz
Hi John
This is probably way too late and your choice of antenna is most likely up already, but I wondered if you considered the broadband hexbeam in your research?
Enjoy whatever it is that you put up at 50ft!
All the best
Andrew