When the merlin was first concepted it wasn't intended to out perform a 5/8 wave antenna. It was a sturdy, low wind load and a small footprint which is helpful in HOA's
Concept of the design. The antenna has a ¼ wave hot element, and ¼ wave radials. Basiaclly it is a ½ wave dipole. But it is a top loaded hot element which is where some of the performance comes from.
Initial set up of the antenna is easy. A few parts and you are done. As for tunning. The antenna is extreemly broad banded. And it is so consistant in its tunning that you only need to set the antenna up at the provided marks and its 99% dead on. It was a suprise that it is that easy.
At one time I had the antenna tuned on 27.8 and was able to talk on 10 and 11 meters and not go over 1.3 swr.
Tunning numbers
27.185 48 ohms and x=0 1.0 swr
26.000 44 ohms x=0 1.3 swr
28.000 55 ohms x=10 1.3 swr
26.9 to 27.5 1.0 swr
Now for some real world results. ( no link provided )
When I first put the antenna up the majority of locals are with in a 12 mile radius.
To those guys I had equal tx and rx signal. But when we started to further test at longer distances is when the performance started to shine. It was never stated that a ¼ wave antenna can out perform a 5/8 in radiated power. But just like others have clamied in the past that ¼ wave antennas have performed better ( star duster ) ( also less tvi ) is due to angle of radiation.
TVI is not caused by the wavelength of a antenna . it is mostly caused by proximity , over modulating , overdriving the powere ability of the radio/amp and poor antenna installation .
in some installs a 1/4wgp will be the better performing antenna , in some it won't . no antenna is always best , if it were there would only be one antenna sold .
Now booty I know you have a problem understanding this so pay attention. Take off angle of any antenna is one of the biggest factors. If you can not place the signal where you want it to be your not going to get out. This is one reason why flat beams are used during skip. Low angle of radiation!
Just as a quarterback, or baseball player. If they can’t put the ball in some ones hands, or over the back wall it doesn’t matter how hard they can throw or hit.
i'm very familiar with TOA . i don't understand why your flat beam statement is relevant since the merlin is a vertical 1/4WGP antenna
An imax has a high take off angle. Which is why most all antennas out perform it locally very easily. 5/8 wave antenna aren’t as bad. The merlin is much lower.
where on earth did you hear of find evidence that a imax/ 5/8 has a high TOA and that a 1/4WGPs is much lower ???????
People who have used the merlin, tested and compaired it have 9 out of 10 found the same basic results.
LOL , blanket statements like that don't make sense . i wouldn't expect any one antenna to be better tin 9 out of 10 random users due the how every location has it's own unique way it will effect the antenna . i'm gonna guess you won't share what antennas they compared .. or how they compared or if they compared using the same mount . height and coax . but hopefully i'm wrong and we'll have something other than because you say so to back up your claim .
With in 12 miles. The merlin is on par or a tad under the 5/8 wave ( 10k which is the best of the 5/8 )
The further you go out the better the performance picks up. Why? The signal is transmitted lower to the ground and the curve of the earth doesn’t effect it as quickly.
Test.. me and yote. I’m in Alexandria and yote is in Baltimore. Roughly 30 air miles. He has the merlin and I10k up with a radio into a 2 pill. I am in the mobile sitting still. On the 10k I had zero signal. Not a garble or a needle wiggle. On the merlin I had a solid 1.5 -2 s units on him, perfectly clear. ( no link for this either )
i talked 30 miles barefoot on my old home made wire starduster . why someone would NEED a 2 pill to be herd that far .. i don't know
. my homemade 5/8 did much much better . i have to wonder if yote had his i10k assembled or correctly , or if he had issues with his feedline , or something else .
Test. Me during skip on ch 6. I could change antennas in 8 min easy. I have a winch set up on the tower and it’s a quick process. I changed from the merlin to I10k radio into a magna 200. No contacts on the 10k, contact on the merlin. Kinda simple there but still no link.
you've been around long enough to know that skip is a terrible way to judge antennas since it's all about conditions . and those conditions change from moment to moment ..... there's also different layers of the atmosphere that because of the different heights of those layers they reflect signals back at different angles . higher angle skip will favor antennas with higher TOA . so absolutely any typical antenna waverlength can win the day .. or moment .you say "No contacts on the 10k, contact on the merlin" there is never that much difference between 2 antennas unless on is not assembled properly , or someone is lying . my 3 ft lil will picks op skip .... and you expect folks to believe the i10k herd nothing ..
Me locally. With less power I have easily been able to talk further then my other locals, that was unitl they got merlins also and made it tougher. I had to pump it up then. But at the longer distances I was clearly doing better then the I10k. I can not be a good rx test due to the local transformer static.
if you "can not be a good rx test due to the local transformer static" then how can you expect others to except your RX claims ? you obviuosally have a huge issue at your 20 that is going to hamper and skew any type of testing you do and won't reflect the majority of users experiences .
Wrangler a local guy. He has had the jo gun 5/8 and the 7/8 ground plane, and an imax. He now puts 2 more s units on his local group, along with having less static in his rx along with 2 s unit gain! He can now hear a few of them barefoot where befor they needed power on. 4 other locals have a merlin now all with basically the same results.
I will say one guy has one and does not have these results. But he does tx into the side of a mountain facing our direction.
LOL . of course they did better locally with the merlin .... a 1/4 WGP has a higher TOA and will place more signal locally ... go back and read your baseball,football comment ... it's putting more signal locally because that what a 1/4WGP does .
Yota test. Now this is where blow hole gets his 15 db gain increase.
I do not have a copy of the post he made. Carl deleted it since he is a tool. And I am not going on maul droppers to go and find it. But yota had 4 antennas merlin, 10k, coily Excalibur ( his 500 dollar base antenna) and a penetrator 500.
Several test were done on several days. At 30 air miles using a 2x8….
( these numbers are not perbatum but you will get the idea, go find the post for accuracy )
Penetrator 500 6 s units
Coily 7.5
10k 9
Merlin near the corner!
I did not do that test. And yota is a huge coily fan and was highly supprised the coily lost.
LOL , that POS sales pitch has been laughed at on every forum that it's been posted at
but if you want to use it to support your claims .. be my guest
Now as for the post link of the guy bitching. Yes that is a tap that broke. The guy didn’t want to wait for the antenna as it was ( they are made per order ) Also the tap in no way affects the operation since its in the center no current part of the antenna. ( laymens )
but nobody wanted to admit it ... was willing to argue to hell and back that it wasn't a busted tap . that kind of protecting/lying for a business never speaks well of it
Also the guy complaining was having radio issues that were not related to his antenna system. You should be able to see that comment elsewhere.
can you post a link to the comment .... so we have more than just you saying it for evidence ?? please
Bottom line is this. Yeah with all the cb comments that fly around, and the number of ¼ wave one would think a 5/8 has to do better. Well real world results don’t lie.
no , they don't . but sometimes the people reporting those results are lying .. and sometimes they have other issues effecting their results that they aren't aware of .
As I’ve stated before. There is more (75%) bad information that goes around then good info. More ghost stories then not. A lot of should have, would have, could have with nothing to back it up. The reading is here for ya.
%75 might be conservative . thanks for the read
I am sure you can come to your own conclusion. But this is an information post. Don’t shit it up.
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