I love how you all just gang up on someone... Just like CB tricks they all ganged up on me there too.
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A99 question
- Thread starter silver devil
- Start date
Hmmm, that must mean something? Maybe if you don't come across quite so abrasive you would not have that problem. Like I have said in post of mine in the past, I have been a cber for 49 years and a ham for only for four years. Nothing wrong being a cber as long as you obey the laws and run a clean station.
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Silver Devil,
If I may, I'd like to suggest something. And that is, don't read anything into something that's not there. Just take people's posts at face value. If you are looking for something negative, chances are you'll find something. And more often than not, what was said wasn't intended that way.
For example. Just because someone posts, "another DA that asks a question,..............and then tells a WELL KNOWN forum member to stfu. What the @#$% do some pople have for brains?"
There's no reason to think anything negative was . . . well, maybe that's not the best example.
Anyway, I think you know what I mean.You obviously know a great deal about radios and antennas and have a lot to offer this site in addition to wanting to learn. It just takes some effort. On all our parts.
Peace.
Jim
No i just think its kinda bad that one cannot come on here and ask a simple questions and not get the third degree. It's no wonder the radio hobby is dying and new people run away it's due to the older guys treating the new/newer guys like crap. I see it all over the internet like on the CB forums and on QRZ and Eham... I have been dinking with Cb and ham and SWL stuff since i was 12 and yes i DO know a lot but there are things i need to ask to verify...
Okay, I just read this thread again and everything was on the up and up until Post #5. Yours. LC answered you twice in a straight forward helpful manner and suddenly you got very defensive. That 's exactly what I was suggesting in my previous post. Apparently, you saw something that wasn't there. Or I am blind as a bat.
Regardless, that's my last comment on the subject. Just trying to help.
Respectfully,
Jim
A99 is junk. Get over it, somehow.
Use the 102" as a vertical element on top of a ground plane created by at least three ground radials at least 7' long.
It worked for Marconi it will work for you. If you are absolutely anal about VSWR tip the ground radials down a bit .
I'm not picking on anyone. I'm just offering an opinion (the A99 and all it's ilk are junk) and a possible alternative (1/4 waves always work) .
Use the 102" as a vertical element on top of a ground plane created by at least three ground radials at least 7' long.
It worked for Marconi it will work for you. If you are absolutely anal about VSWR tip the ground radials down a bit .
I'm not picking on anyone. I'm just offering an opinion (the A99 and all it's ilk are junk) and a possible alternative (1/4 waves always work) .
No it's not. if it's junk then why do so many people use them including myself?????? I have owned all kinds of antennas from huge metal monster beams to simple stick antennas so i have all kinds of exp...
I think someone needs to chill out and heed some advice given above. Silver devil there was NOTHING wrong with loose cannon's comment to you. He simply stated facts and all of a sudden you went a bit off the deep end. If you are as you said in post #18 which you deleted but I can still see then perhaps they pick on you (or you perceive that they do) not because of what you stated but because of what you post and the way you come across to others. If you see this on every forum you go too then perhaps the issue is not with all those other people but rather a little closer to home. Just chill out for a bit.
then perhaps they pick on you (or you perceive that they do) not because of what you stated but because of what you post and the way you come across to others. If you see this on every forum you go too then perhaps the issue is not with all those other people but rather a little closer to home. Just chill out for a bit.
Just because something is popular does not mean it is any good. There are much better options than the A99. If you ever dissected one and saw the base matching network you may change your mind.
Im going by what most people run. A lot of them on the air. they are a simple antenna to put up and doesn't require as much maintenance.. Yes i have run better and i own better but for what it is its not that bad....
[disclaimer]
I provide the following link and it's content for information purposes for those that are in any way curious. That my experience with the A99/Imax2k and their clones mirrors that of W8JI, Tom Rauch is coincidental, or not ...
[/disclaimer]
https://www.w8ji.com/end-fed_vertical.htm#IMAX
[opinion]
Anyone interested in furthering their education in radio communication should bookmark his pages. The answers to many questions regularly asked here are within Tom's pages.
[/opinion]
"
Most of the radiation is up in the sky at a high angle. The angle is so high, it is even useless for skywave.
This is a NEGATIVE gain antenna at low angles. A 1/4wl ground plane would seriously outperform the I-MAX 2000 or any other 1/2 or 5/8th wl antenna that does not have a large ground plane.
This pattern is over real earth, where a conventional dipole has about 8 to 8.5 dBi gain. This antenna about -2 dBd gain maximum. It has negative gain over a dipole. The gain over a dipole at most useful angles for DX is about -10 dB....significant negative gain."
Even if we use the optimum feed line and mast length, here is the very best the end-fed vertical antenna will do is this pattern.
"
In this case we now have 2.67 dBi at 8 degrees elevation. This is actually an amount that is unnoticeably less than a perfect 1/4wl ground plane will produce! These severe common-mode mast and feed line currents make "no-radial" verticals extremely sensitive to mounting height, mounting structure, feed line length, and grounding. CB'ers for example often talk about grounding coax or changing coax length to match an antenna. If changes in mast length or feed line length or grounding affect the antenna pattern or SWR, it is an antenna design problem.
The gain over a dipole is now a few db at some really low angles, so it can be better than a dipole. At slightly higher angles for shorter skip, the dipole takes over and can be several dB better than the vertical.
This change is entirely the result of altering height and feed line/mast length!!! No antenna changes were made!"
The above content courtesy of W8JI, Tom Rauch.
Many thanks to Tom Rauch for his tireless experimentation and publication. Also thanks are due for his continuing to allow hot linking of his images .
I went to the trouble to offer opinion and post this information because full length whips are increasingly hard to find due to exorbitant shipping charges for length alone. Even suppliers for full length whips in glass or stainless have diminished to a handful . Once cut there is no going back. I was just trying to save a full length whip. Kind of a silly reason but I'm full of unique and obscure alternatives , when I'm not being a dick.
Apologies to Silver Devil and Staff .
I provide the following link and it's content for information purposes for those that are in any way curious. That my experience with the A99/Imax2k and their clones mirrors that of W8JI, Tom Rauch is coincidental, or not ...
[/disclaimer]
https://www.w8ji.com/end-fed_vertical.htm#IMAX
[opinion]
Anyone interested in furthering their education in radio communication should bookmark his pages. The answers to many questions regularly asked here are within Tom's pages.
[/opinion]
"
Most of the radiation is up in the sky at a high angle. The angle is so high, it is even useless for skywave.
This is a NEGATIVE gain antenna at low angles. A 1/4wl ground plane would seriously outperform the I-MAX 2000 or any other 1/2 or 5/8th wl antenna that does not have a large ground plane.
This pattern is over real earth, where a conventional dipole has about 8 to 8.5 dBi gain. This antenna about -2 dBd gain maximum. It has negative gain over a dipole. The gain over a dipole at most useful angles for DX is about -10 dB....significant negative gain."
Even if we use the optimum feed line and mast length, here is the very best the end-fed vertical antenna will do is this pattern.
"
In this case we now have 2.67 dBi at 8 degrees elevation. This is actually an amount that is unnoticeably less than a perfect 1/4wl ground plane will produce! These severe common-mode mast and feed line currents make "no-radial" verticals extremely sensitive to mounting height, mounting structure, feed line length, and grounding. CB'ers for example often talk about grounding coax or changing coax length to match an antenna. If changes in mast length or feed line length or grounding affect the antenna pattern or SWR, it is an antenna design problem.
The gain over a dipole is now a few db at some really low angles, so it can be better than a dipole. At slightly higher angles for shorter skip, the dipole takes over and can be several dB better than the vertical.
This change is entirely the result of altering height and feed line/mast length!!! No antenna changes were made!"
The above content courtesy of W8JI, Tom Rauch.
Many thanks to Tom Rauch for his tireless experimentation and publication. Also thanks are due for his continuing to allow hot linking of his images .
I went to the trouble to offer opinion and post this information because full length whips are increasingly hard to find due to exorbitant shipping charges for length alone. Even suppliers for full length whips in glass or stainless have diminished to a handful . Once cut there is no going back. I was just trying to save a full length whip. Kind of a silly reason but I'm full of unique and obscure alternatives , when I'm not being a dick.
Apologies to Silver Devil and Staff .
Interesting, but why is there no modeling or mentioning of using these antennas with their prospective ground plane kits?