on a base antenna cant make up my mind on either a BMT shockwave or a Merlin
hear many great reviews
on a base antenna cant make up my mind on either a BMT shockwave or a Merlin
hear many great reviews
The BMT Shockwave has gotten nothing but great reviews and appears to work very well. Built like a tank as well. Not sure about the Merlin. But I have seen a few pics of installs and lots of talk about the USA made Shockwave antenna. Both if they are the same tip height should work about equally the same. If there is any difference, it won't be much as far as Gain is concerned, so go with the one you like the best. If it were me I would go with the Shockwave antenna. It's just a big beast. I run a Sirio vector 4000, but would run a Shockwave antenna if I had the opportunity to!! JMHO's.
BOOTY MONSTER (02-08-2017)
gain isn't so much if a factor in their differences as their angle of signal radiation is .... i'd go for the lower angle .
222DBFL (02-09-2017)
A 5/8 wave base antenna has more gain than a 1/2 wave, as well as a lower TOA, and a straight 1/4 wave typically has more efficiency than a shortened center or top coil type.
The Merlin is a center-fed 1/2 wave with the top 1/4 wave shortened by using both a coil and a capacity hat.
The full 5/8 Shockwave should deliver a solid s-unit more performance over the merlin 55 in most real-world applications.
Ghost Rider? Huh? WhoTF is Ghost Rider? Did you accidentally quote me instead of this "Ghost Rider" personna?
Anyway, a 5/8 has both a low and a high angle of radiation which collide at certain distances either reinforcing one another for much superior gain (over almost any 1/2 wave, excepting perhaps the NV4K which is an efficiently-fed, elevated 1/2 wave produced by off-center feeding a full-wave vertical at the .64 point thus causing a dB or two of gain over any Starduster-type simple 1/2 wave) or cancelling one another causing rings of fading at select, differing distances depending on the D & E-layer reflectivity and elevation.
You have to decide which type of RF radiation best suits your needs, but a 5/8 wins more often than not.
a 3/4 vector/sirio 4000 will have a lower TOA than a 1/4 wave merlin/starduster or other 1/2 wave or 5/8 .54 WL antenna . the lower TOA will have less bounce benefiting longer skip contacts .... no magic dust or snake oil needed . all will work , each will work better than the others in particularly favorable installs , the majority of the time the bigger/higher antenna works better .
no one wants to play frisbee golf
All my stuff was wiped out by a tornado on 1-21-17. Went back with a gizmotchy 241 for my 2m stuff and bought the maco comet 6 for the beam and another v5000 for ground plane use. Only have the 2m up now still collecting tower sticks for the other ants. Hope I made a good choice will see when up.73s
QUACKA QUACKA FOR A MUD DUCK CHECK QUACK QUACK
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