Gamegetter, it's like playing the piano, it's very difficult unless you practice, practice, and practice until it gets easy, but it's still a bit of work. Believe it or not the SD'r is very light, but more difficult to install than most. You have to be very careful not to bend it up, and it doesn't come with a mounting bracket. The AstroPlane is the same.
Well, I've been saying "...I don't see the big differences most do" for some years now, but before I couldn't show what I see, just words.
I believe the differences are in the soil and Earth conditions in my area which is very flat and highly conductive as Earth goes. I don't do anything special here, but I believe that most stations that see more differences in their experiences see that difference due to the very poor to extremely poor conductivity, where raised antennas that need less ground plane affects from a physical ground plane...excell over antennas that need a better ground, like the vertical 1/4 wave radiators.
However, the big thing I believe is going on is how folks tend to evaluate their results. You can't just put up an antenna and get one or two radio or antenna checks up close and make a fair evaluation. I see my antenna signals change responsiveness right before my very eyes, and when you do everything right using only one mount, coax, and radio, albeit the best practice, you just can't see what I see testing side by side, and that hardly ever goes on in the vast majority of cases when guys compare one antenna to another weeks, months, or years apart, and sometimes even hours or minutes apart, to say nothing about our being able to come anywhere near able to control all the variables involved. There always has to be good reasons why some guys see 2-3 Sunit differences between different CB vertical models, while guys like my self, generally see about a 1/2 Sunit difference and even less.
My Starduster, in the case above, only has a 4' foot height advantage over the Gain Master at a point where the coax connects to the antenna. In addition the SD's tip is 11' feet lower and 1/2 of the antenna is below the point where the coax connects. Both pushup poles are approximately 44' feet high, with the SD having a side pipe mounted above this point just 4' feet higher with a full 8' feet of the antenna hanging below this hub point which is the center of the antenna while the center of the GM is 11' feet higher than the 44' foot pushpole when they are extended all the way out. Both P/U's are currently about 2'-3' below their max extension just for my convince at this time. The images I posted earlier do not give a perfect perspective as usual, but one is pretty close.
