No, I haven't tried a beam calculator yet, I use an idea that I got from my old radio mentor a long time ago, and that gets me real close. Then I start tweaking the model until I see trends start and stop.
I'll check this out however, it may be a lot more simple to use, cause my way requires a calculator.
My first beam was a Y-Quad, and I didn't find it particularly effective, but that was long long ago and I've learned a thing or two since. I did finally put a conventional yagi reflector on the Y-quad and I thought it was better...but that could have been my bias working too. It would be an interesting project to see what my Eznec idea for a quad reflector could predict.
I have heard guys that prefer the quad as the reflector comment how much better it works in the real world, but I've never modeled the idea. I could be wrong, but as I usually find, I doubt it will make that much of a difference.
I could be surprised though at what Eznec might predict. This is often why I do my models...just to see how they line up with what is reported by others.
