ocwarren2000 wrote: > I've been watching this topic and cannot recommend the half > wave dipole bay antennas as not really efficient gain wise for what > one gets for the effort.. > > The Station Master series has been mentioned, which has good > omnidirectional gain, in the order of some 10 db, and which is equal > to having a 10 element beam in all directions!! Far above a 4 > section dipole arrangment!
As Laryn mentioned, the 10dB stationmasters are only available at UHF and above, because a 10dB version at 150Mhz (probably even 220) would be on the order of 40-50' long! In the same vertical space as a UHF 10dBd stationmaster, you can also put in an 8-bay folded dipole array (most commercial x-bay arrays use folded dipoles), which yields 9dBd. The advantage most find with the dipole arrays is that they are DC grounded, and are less susceptible to noise, rain static, etc. -- Jim Barbour WD8CHL
