Hi Pat;
I saw that news letter and took a look at one of the sites they mentioned 
but it only talked about mobile antennas.
Richard
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Pat Byrne" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, November 11, 2006 12:02 PM
Subject: Re: antenna info


Hi Richard,
The following comes from this weeks edition of the Handihams
Newsletter and addresses some HF verticals.
As an alternative; how about as much wire as you can inobtrusively
get up in the clear, maybe an automatic antenna tuner and your
station ground.  Might just do a decent job.
Pat Byrne, K9JAU

Let's ask Elmer!

Elmer writes:

There is no specific question this week, but recently I have been
getting queries about no-tune, no-radial vertical HF multiband
antennas. These are not
the one that use traps or stubs for tuning, either. Nope, they are
simply straight aluminum sticks with some kind of "magic" tuning
devices at the base.
There are a few different brands, but the typical claim is that they
are perfect for people who live in places that won't allow radials
and that they have
a low SWR over a broad segment of the HF spectrum - usually ALL of
the typical HF ham bands. The tuning device isn't mechanical, either
- it's passive.
Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? Who wouldn't want a no-radial antenna
that covers all the HF bands without a tuner?

Well, the right answer to that question is that no one should want
one of these things, because they fall into that category of
electronic gizmos that are
"too good to be true". Worse yet, they are not cheap - you can spend
hundreds of dollars for something that is nothing more than an
aluminum stick mounted
across a resistive dummy load!

Yes, I said dummy load. The only way to achieve the seemingly
impossible claims of extremely broad bandwidth, trap-free no-tuner HF
operation is to connect
your coax across a 50 Ohm resistive load that is connected (probably
in parallel) to the aluminum radiating element. Most of the signal
will go directly
into heating the resistor, so good-by signal! These antenna designs
are terrible. They don't work any better on receive, either, and
don't be fooled by
claims on the manufacturers' websites that tell of DX worked and
satisfied owners. It is possible to work stations on a dummy load, as
some RF will escape
the clutches of the resistor, radiating from the coax. However, there
is NO comparison to using an antenna that is properly designed and
tuned to the operating
frequency. The "real" antenna will yield a 30 to 50 dB advantage over
these "dummy loads on a stick".

So be careful shopping for antennas. You don't always need to spend a
lot of money, and you should get the opinion of the antenna experts
at your local
radio club - not some guy who has a dummy load antenna, but other
experienced operators who have put up and tested many antennas over
the years. That way
you will get the the straight story - and some REAL DX!

At 10:04 AM 11/11/2006, you wrote:
>Hi Everyone;
>Since I have the winter to investigate I've been looking at hf verticals.
>I'd like something that at least covers 40 through 10 meters and 80 meters
>would be a nice extra.
>I have used two r8 by cushcraft which have come down so we can cross that
>one off my list.  After reading reviews I have temporarily eliminated the
>dx77.  Since I would prefer something that I can roof mount and don't have
>to add radials that seems to eliminate butternut, step-ir and others.  I'm
>far from an antenna expert and I wonder what else is out there that I don't
>know about.  I have looked at the dx88 but it apparently is best ground
>mounted with radials.
>Any words of wisdom will be appreciated.
>Richard