View Single Post
Old 8-Feb-2017, 6:17 PM   #12
WIRELESS ENGINEER
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Eastern Ohio
Posts: 101
Very little has changed in the last 50 years when it comes to antennas

a yagi is still a yagi, a bowtie is still a bowtie, and a loop is still a loop

you can encase it in plastic or paint it pretty colors but its still the same old antenna that's been around for decades

what HAS changed is heavy advertising and false performance claims

Db gain over a DIPOLE used to be the standard back when
honesty in the industry existed

today they quote "raw gain" and gain over the non- existant "isotropic" reference

DBI is a totally useless gain figure that can't be proven or tested on this planet PERIOD

Since you can't possibly build or buy an isotropic reference, they can claim anything

its like saying an antenna has 15 db gain over a UNICORN

a 4 bay bowtie built by the best engineers on the planet never produced more than 12 dbd gain yet today I see claims of as much a 17 db gain

a new gullible generation is easy pickins for these tactics and the proof is in the sales figures

quad shielded coax is another one I get tired of

you will never find a situation where you will see a difference between normal 100% shielding and quad shielding on TV frequencies

its another marketing ploy

and while the gullible are buying this stuff up by the mile, they fail to notice that this magical coax they bought has a STEEL center conductor that not only can't power their magical super duper low noise figure preamp properly, but can in fact RUST and ruin their massive investment

I used to tell people years ago to take anything that is heavily advertised and pushed with a grain of salt but today you need the whole salt shaker to swallow some of these new claims

Last edited by WIRELESS ENGINEER; 8-Feb-2017 at 6:27 PM.
WIRELESS ENGINEER is offline   Reply With Quote