eddie, the center to center radial spacing on my hub is 5-13/16"
remember the original astroplane was designed before the days of 40ch cb so theres no reason to think it would be tuned for 27.205 unless it says so in the instructions,
i see what sdr is talking about, you have the mast on the same side of bracket as the s0239, im sure we talked about that too when you sent me the hub,
its an optical illusion, the bracket is punched to locate the mast on that side,
the inside edge of the radial is level with the edge of the mast, moving the mast to the opposite side will move the radials over 1/4" putting radial centerline level with the mast edge, the astroplane falls somewhere inbetween,
the top-one outside of bend design allows the correct radial spacing with a shorter bracket and neater/symetrical appearance than the inside of bend design. it is also easier to convert into an astrobeam,
reversing the hub causes the radial spacing to be 3-7/8"
heres what it looks like reversed, the feedpoint side wont sit flush unless you enlaged the s0239 slightly but you can see how it would look
this way puts the radial centerline much closer to mast centerline as seen in sdr's homebrew,
i like the symetrical approach if you are homebrewing , im thinking the offset upper 1/4wave and radials are a product of what is practical and cheap to manufacture whilst offering choice of mast diameters, the mast is a part of the antenna not just a mast but for practicalities of packaging / transportation and more importantly cost they did not supply a mast,
if i was building an astroplane/ beam from scratch i would not bother with the antenna connector, its not needed adds complexity and limits maximum power rating, i know of one guy that removed the avanti so239 and went direct connection so that he could run high power,
i have a simple design in mind that allows some impedance adjustment and a symetrical feed/layout, i think we talked about that before too, i know i drew some examples and sent them to somebody,
i don't know if that will improve or degrade pattern symetry untill i test it.
