It did cross my mind that if you just want to verify, say the elevation angle and intensity of the main lobe, you could launch a balloon some wavelengths away carrying a field strength indicator. With everything else non-metal, the meter could send data via fibre to the ground and make a measurement at every metre/foot. Then move the balloon to another spot on your plan and repeat. Repeat for each antenna. As long as it doesn't rain, I would think that would give consistant results and it would take into account the ground around the station.
David G3UNA > > > Geoff, > > To do good antenna testing you need an anechoic chamber or better > operate in deep space. My primary interest in radio are the microwave > bands. I do set up antenna ranges for 10 GHz (3cm), In doing so, I find > the wind blowing tree leaves will have a non trivial affect on the > observed signal even though the trees are "out of the way." I find that > I need to place the reference antenna and the antenna under test in > exactly the same place (x y and z position) to get true A/B comparisons. > This is demonstrated by taking two known antenna and see how repeatable > the observations can be. > > Scaling these realizations up to HF antenna causes me to throw up my > hands. Yes we do the best we can testing antenna, but we have to be > realistic about the data we collect. When anyone makes claims about > their antenna I listen carefully for the details on how the antenna was > tested. > > Maybe we should ask ARRL to fund a synchronous satellite over the US > with a beacon on each of the HF bands so that we can point our antenna > up and make more valid comparisons. > > Don, N0YE > > ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
