[amsat-bb] give the newbie the full story on ELK and ARROW please

[Jim Danehy]

Yes folks can make contacts with Arrow and Elk antennas because it is done every day of the week . . . . that is not the argument here . . . my comments have been made to give full disclosure of the several issues which seemed to be ignored by advocats of one over the other . . .

Arrow and Elk are LINEARLY  polarized antennas . . . . the 17,000 mph  moving satellite is throwing off CIRCULAR  polarized RF energy . . .  please SUBTRACT  3 db or more of gain from your Elk or Arrow when receiving the satellite's signal . . . some still do not understand this concept and never will .  . . ignorance is bliss . . . .

For years I grinned ; like I am doing now whenever I saw an 18 wheel trucker with a pair of 3 foot high  verticals and a big coil of aluminum tubing at the bottom . . . . probably a good analogy  . . . .  yes they can make contacts for a little distance just like users of the Arrow and Elk can make contacts . . . .

yes "field tests"  ( anecdotal evidence ) give you some sense of satisfaction . . . . some CB ers enjoy CB operating too . . .  ignorance is bliss . . . . .working a buddy across town from his house to yours on 2 mtrs or 435 mhz is one thing because your antennas are not moving . . . . once one of them starts moving quickly ( 17,000 mph ) it all changes . . . I realize that this requires some further reading, studying and understanding . . . .you need to understand the entire story . . . . ignorance is still bliss for far too many . . . 

up until about 1952 folks used monoband beams . . .  . then the triband beams with traps appeared . . .  degradation occurs one small step at a time . . .  it is progressive too . . . now we have folks doing CW with their computers during contests  and they think that they are CW ops . . .  . . . note I did not say sending . . . 

a couple of locals were all in a lather a few years ago when the local DX packet cluster went down . . . what are we going to do . . .  I told them it really made no difference to me as I will continue to TUNE the bands for the DX . . . because that is what a DXer does . . .  

the DUMMYING  DOWN  of hams is sad . . .  of course it depends upon your base of experience . . . . if you do not know any better  . . .  well ignorance is bliss . . .  we do need fuller disclosure to the newbie who asks a question . . . .

If somebody says : yes I know all of that but this is my compromise;  that is fine . . .  but folks are preaching to folks who ask questions : what should I buy ? . . . . there is another option which is being ignored . . .  thus my questioning to let the newbie know that these antennas work but there should be a caveat of the compromise . . . without that caveat or understanding they think they are on the Gold Standard . . .  ignorance is still bliss . . .  in other areas we call it :

1) doing due diligence or 2) informed consent  . . . . some folks hand over all their money to somebody else to manage . . .oh  yes . ..  ignorance turns from being  bliss . . .to catastrophic . . . but it goes on and will continue . . .

Some folks are selling these antennas like some sell religion . . .  with certainty that theirs is the one true one . . .give the newbie the FULL STORY please. . .   that has been my goal for several weeks now . . . I have received many nice personal emails thanking me for my comments . . . I am not bashing ARROW  or  ELK just trying to give a FULL  DISCLOSURE which is what should be going on not just blind advocacy for one of these over the other . . . . which is mostly what I have seen with anecdotal comments . . .


Jim W9VNE