Antennas
It's the ANTENNA, Stupid !
(Said with tongue-in-cheak)
More accurately stated, it's the ANTENNA SYSTEM that contributes most to the signal strength of your station. 100 Watts of power is 100 Watts, regardless of whether it is being transmitted from a transmitter/transceiver that cost $1000 or $10,000! The choice of radio may affect the quality of the signal but it does not affect the signal strength.
The only thing that can potentially contribute more to your signal strength is the QTH (i.e., on a rock, surrounded by salt water) . . . but that's not easily changed.
What is an Antenna System?
An Antenna System includes everything from the antenna to the transmitter - excluding the transmitter.
This includes coax or open-wire feedline, coax connectors, relays, switches, and of course the antenna matchbox, if one is used. It also includes the station ground, and the radials when using vertical antennas.
And BTW, it also includes the antenna pole, mast or tower!
The "Pole Position"
IMO, the choice of pole, mast, or tower is one of the most important decisions we hams make about our station. Few things influence our station's performance as much as the device supporting our antennas.
Thus, I place the decision about 'which support to choose' to be in the "pole position" in the choices we make when configuring our station.
REASON: for all horizontally polarized antennas, the height above ground influences the signal strength.
HEIGHT = MIGHT
It is surprising how well a simple dipole antenna can perform,
when it is erected 1/2 wavelength in the air, especially if it is rotatable!
Further, few devices seem to live as long in our station as the antenna support. We will probably change our transceiver and antenna dozens of times over the years, but the pole, mast or tower tends to stay with us forever!
Although I have had several masts at some QTH's I've lived at, I still have my original 30 ft. stackable steel mast that I purchased for 150 Deutsch Mark (abt. $100) in 1976. At the time I found it dreadfully expensive, but in retrospect, it has cost me only $2.27/year (so far; tendency falling from year to year).
Cheap = "CHEAP Quality" (If you buy cheap, you buy twice.)
We strongly urge people to buy good quality components when constructing antenna systems. Cheap components often prove to be inferior quality over time, and may lead to antenna system failure.
Therefore, always make intelligent component selection decisions:
- Buy good quality NEW coax . . . which does not mean you must buy the most expensive coax.
- Buying 2nd hand (used) coax is high risk. Coax deteriorates over time. You have no idea how old the coax actually is. Sometimes it is even water-logged and has higher than normal loss.
- Mil Spec RG-213 coax is good quality coax.
- 60 Ohm TV coax purchased at the local d-i-y Hardware Store is a very poor choice of coax.
- Cheap coax purchased on ebay is a very poor choice, unless it is a true name-brand coax (i.e., Belden).
- Buy good quality coax connectors (i.e., Amphenol, or similar).
- Good coax connectors use Teflon insulation inside, and have gold-plated or silver-plated center contacts. Do NOT buy coax connectors with nickel-plated center contacts.
- Cheap coax connectors purchased on ebay or at ham fest flea-markets usually have cheap plastic insulation inside and will melt easily when soldering coax to them. In addition, some fail to maintain 50 Ohms, thus causing high SWR.
- Purchase rope only from reputable ham radio dealers; do not purchase cheap rope on ebay, or at your local d-i-y Hardware Store.
- Reputable ham radio dealers are experienced and only sell rope which is UV-resistant and suitable for outdoor applications.
- D-i-y hardware stores often sell rope that is not UV-resistant. As a result, it will surely deteriorate in a few years and break.
- Be aware that there are HUGE differences in the quality of telescoping fiberglass poles.
- Fiberglass poles purpose-made for amateur radio antenna supports tend to be much stronger than cheap fishing poles or cheap poles sold on ebay.
- With fiberglass poles, it is especially true that if you buy cheap, you buy twice. Buy good quality fiberglass poles.
- We recommend Spiderbeam fiberglass poles; they are the first choice of all major DX-peditions . . . for good reason!
TIP: You will find excellent information on choices of antenna system components and material in the 2013 presentation on Contest Antennas, given by Frank Donovan, W3LPL, at Contest University in Dayton. HERE
- Note: The first half of this presentation is about towers; the section on choosing quality components begins at 19:15 minutes into the presentation. You can fast-scroll to that section.
SUMMARY:
Do not make the mistake of spending thousands of $$$ on your dream-transceiver, then skimping on your antenna system. Nothing will spoil your operating pleasure as much as using a poor antenna system.