Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!hou3c!hocda!twitch!hocad!houxm!ihnp4!zehntel!hplabs!sri-unix!Karz.Wbst@XEROX.ARPA From: Karz.Wbst@XEROX.ARPA Newsgroups: net.ham-radio Subject: Re: Tribanders Message-ID: <12562@sri-arpa.UUCP> Date: Mon, 1-Oct-84 11:29:00 EDT Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.12562 Posted: Mon Oct 1 11:29:00 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 6-Oct-84 04:50:56 EDT Lines: 28 Antonio, I purchased a HyGain Explorer 14 tribander about a year ago. My situation is very similar to yours (mast mounted 12 feet off the roof and about 35 feet above the ground), and I have been well pleased with its quality and performance. Its a reasonably rugged antenna, and it really does have the 8 or so db gain advertised. I am especially happy with its front to back performance since a friend, W2AZX, bought a Mosley TA33 about the same time, and while overall performance of the two antennas is comparable, his TA33 (mounted on a 70' tower) has superior front to side performance, but not as good performance front to back as my Explorer 14. My only "complaint" is that the SWR at the lower band edges is in the 2.5 to 3 range. The problem, according to the instruction manual, is that my antenna is too close to the roof. I've thought of re-tuning the antenna to move resonance lower in the band, but I don't wish to sacrifice performance for my occasional forrays into the phone band. Also, my 6146 finals will easily handle 3:1 SWR. Operating with the antenna is a real pleasure. Hamming is sure a lot more fun when you can occasionally break into a pile-up and grab a rare one. That didn't happen very often with my TS820 barefoot and my old subpar antenna. Its also nice to be able to use the yagi and geography as a kind of spatial QRM filter. Its definitely been one of the better purchases for my station. 73 Bob Karz K2OID