At 2/4/2009 22:17, you wrote: >Excellent advice, and thank you. > >We are experimenting with unity gain, 3dB, 6dB, and 9dB. The results >have been quite interesting. Using three separate radios at the same >location and "manual voting" we can hear that at one moment unity >gain is better, while at another one of the other antennas is better.
Choice of antenna will not be as easy as preamp/no preamp. As you've found, the lower gain antenna will probably do better in areas directly below you, while the GP9 will work best out at the horizon. If you really want to go for maximum performance, you may want to consider 2 antennas: a low gain antenna to duplex off of, & a GP9 feeding a 2nd voted receiver. You'll need a little extra power on the TX feeding the low gain antenna to make up for the high gain of the GP9 at the fringe locations. >We'll go for the best all around solution or maybe even two >receivers, two antennas and voting. But there is a reason that the >Forest Service uses unity gain -- it gets down into the canyons. If your primary concern is covering the mountains, the low to medium gain antennas are probably your best choice. Bob NO6B
