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