Jonathan I totally agree with your insight. Still have not found a single objective review of the antenna. Dave Casper is going to do one. That is why I was looking to see if anyone here has tried one. Meanwhile, yes, there are people who don’t know any better, and cognitive dissonance is very real. No one wants to admit to themselves that they bought into something that was wrong. I noticed that almost every one of the hundred or so antennas on eHam got 5-starts. Predictably they also write paragraphs praising their antennas. Interesting. So I totally agree with your premise. Mark N5PRD
Sent from my iPhone > On Dec 22, 2020, at 8:53 AM, Jonathan Guthrie via BVARC <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > You ask why there are lots of reviews from people who love the Isotron even > though you can't find anyone who has used it. I don't know why you can't > find anyone who has used it, but I can explain some (most? all?) of the good > reviews. > > First, some people tend to give five-star reviews for stuff they like, but > not love. I tend to not give five-star reviews for 'seems to work the way > it's supposed to' because that's not outstanding, it's expected, but I am > known to be odd. Second, some people are likely fans of Isotron for other > reasons and they would give a five star review to an such an antenna made of > wet string lying on the ground and disconnected from the feedline. > > The thing is, most people have no real idea how to evaluate an antenna and > definitely don't have the setup for it. The equipment most hams used to > evaluate an antenna is an SWR meter, but an SWR meter, in and of itself, > tells you precisely nothing about how well an antenna is working. The proper > tool to use is a field strength meter, but using one of those for an HF > antenna usually requires more land than a typical ham has access to and more > time and effort than they're likely to want to go to. So, what is someone to > do? > > Well, when I was looking into the "EH Antenna" (don't judge me--I seek the > Holy Grail of antennas just like every ham) I found that typically people > would describe "far off" stations as loud or talk about working stations at > so many km. For a receiving antenna, efficiency is not paramount, so signal > strengths are a misleading measure, and the distances for stations worked > were on the order of 150km, as I recall. I'm not impressed by working a > station 150km away on 40m using a small antenna, but if you're getting > contacts through this sheet metal contraption, you can't say that it doesn't > work. If it's working for you, meaning you're making Q's, then why not give > it a positive review? > > Antenna selection is often a matter of balancing what you want to do against > how much money you have to spend and other restrictions you might have. > There's an old list of "antenna truths" that I saw that began with "Any > antenna is better than no antenna" and for many people, the Isotron is what > they can get an use and it does what they need it to do, so they give it five > stars. > > A good option for 20m? Have you considered a TH-11DX up about 100 feet? > > > On 12/21/20 2:45 PM, Mark Brantana via BVARC wrote: >> Thanks to everyone for the insightful comments. I will put the light bulb >> antenna on my list. Could an LED work? It should consume less power. >> >> How come, though, there are so many comments from those who have no >> experience with the isotonic antenna, yet eHam is loaded with reviews from >> people who love them? Rick makes a good technical point I need to consider, >> but don’t understand why wHam has 78 reviews in the past 180 days give a >> 5-star average rating for the antenna, and 3.9-star average overall. I get >> that there have been disappointing novel antennas in the past. Anyone >> remember the can field antenna? >> >> I am looking for a good option for 20 m and have the coax run and waiting >> for the right selection. Open to ideas. >> >> Mark N5PRD >> >> Sent from my iPhone >> >>> On Dec 21, 2020, at 10:39 AM, Jonathan Guthrie via BVARC <[email protected]> >>> wrote: >>> >>> >>> I have one I got from K5LDD. It's for 80 meters, it comes with no >>> instructions and some parts may be missing. You want it? >>> >>> It should work reasonable well as a radiator, physically small antennas >>> have been used by many people with great success, but its feedpoint >>> impedance is going to vary rapidly with frequency and that means it's going >>> to be fiddly to use. At my age, I dislike fiddly. >>> >>> On 12/21/20 9:12 AM, Mark Brantana via BVARC wrote: >>>> Thank you, Rick. >>>> >>>> Saw one on Dave Casler’s blog last night. He is planning to test it out. >>>> They are said to be good on one band only. Have been a try around 30 >>>> years. I saw a surprising number of 5 star reviews. Has anyone here tried >>>> one? Could just come down to cognitive dissonance on their part. >>>> >>>> Mark >>>> N5PRD >>>> >>>> Sent from my iPhone >>>> >>>>> On Dec 21, 2020, at 6:25 AM, Rick Hiller via BVARC <[email protected]> >>>>> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Very high Q. Finicky. Poor radiator. >>>>> >>>>> Sent from my i-Thingamajig >>>>> >>>>> On Dec 21, 2020, at 12:14 AM, Michael Monsour via BVARC <[email protected]> >>>>> wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> You might have the same luck using a light bulb for an antenna-at least >>>>>> it will be cheaper >>>>>> >>>>>> On Sun, Dec 20, 2020 at 10:32 PM Mark Brantana via BVARC >>>>>> <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>>>> Anyone have any experience with an Isotron antenna? >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Mark >>>>>>> N5PRD >>>>>>> >>>>>>> ________________________________________________ >>>>>>> Brazos Valley Amateur Radio Club >>>>>>> >>>>>>> BVARC mailing list >>>>>>> [email protected] >>>>>>> http://mail.bvarc.org/mailman/listinfo/bvarc_bvarc.org >>>>>> ________________________________________________ >>>>>> Brazos Valley Amateur Radio Club >>>>>> >>>>>> BVARC mailing list >>>>>> [email protected] >>>>>> http://mail.bvarc.org/mailman/listinfo/bvarc_bvarc.org >>>>> ________________________________________________ >>>>> Brazos Valley Amateur Radio Club >>>>> >>>>> BVARC mailing list >>>>> [email protected] >>>>> http://mail.bvarc.org/mailman/listinfo/bvarc_bvarc.org >>>> >>>> >>>> ________________________________________________ >>>> Brazos Valley Amateur Radio Club >>>> >>>> BVARC mailing list >>>> [email protected] >>>> http://mail.bvarc.org/mailman/listinfo/bvarc_bvarc.org >>> >>> -- >>> Jonathan Guthrie >>> ARS KA8KPN >>> ________________________________________________ >>> Brazos Valley Amateur Radio Club >>> >>> BVARC mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> http://mail.bvarc.org/mailman/listinfo/bvarc_bvarc.org >> >> >> ________________________________________________ >> Brazos Valley Amateur Radio Club >> >> BVARC mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://mail.bvarc.org/mailman/listinfo/bvarc_bvarc.org > > -- > Jonathan Guthrie > ARS KA8KPN > ________________________________________________ > Brazos Valley Amateur Radio Club > > BVARC mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.bvarc.org/mailman/listinfo/bvarc_bvarc.org
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