InnovAntennas to launch a new 'reflector-less' Yagi at the RSGB Hamfest

Cal-Av's 2-element phased array is not similar to Innovantenna's design... not one bit. The Cal-Av antenna is a phased, dual-driven element design. The InnovAntenna is a singular loop fed element design. Not similar...

Don't know about TET's design. Please provide data. Was it a singular loop fed element without a reflector? Somehow I doubt it...

Unless you have other info, I don't see it.

Thanks for playing.

...

InnovAntenna's designs are new and fresh in many ways. IMHO, the UK company owner has earned a PhD in antenna design.

Now I'd like to try one of these.

 

Hey John,

I see a new callsign. Congrats -- I like it. I'll be hanging onto NL7W for awhile, as I've had many call-signs up to this point.

Your standard 2-element yagi, designed with a director, is certainly doable. In the past F/R or F/B ratios were considered poor with 2-element designs, incorporating either a reflector or a director. Gain was okay, at only 1 dB down from a much longer 3-element yagi design.

2-element yagi's are great for today's ham with limited space and or tower/mast/rotator handling capabilities. The only thing that has suffered up to now have been the F/R or F/B ratios. To a point, these new InnovAntenna designs might address this.

 

Is there any reason to think this is going to be significantly better than a broadband hex?

 

These new InnovAntenna designs appear to be single-band, aluminum, 2-element designs with similar gain and F/B ratios as compared to a hex-beam -- to a degree.

The new 2 to 7-element, reflector-less yagi designs appear to offer interesting characteristics, and are an option for hams willing to try something different.

 

Okay....I guess this is cool but...if I'm going to put that up why wouldn't I just go ahead and put a good one up WITH a reflector? I have got to be missing something here. Am I? I do have to admit the gain they're claiming on these antennas is impressive.

 

Same gain, saving a few feet of boom length and a little wind resistance? My guess.

 

I'm working on a yagi without any elements for HF called the "Smoke Blower". It will be only $44.95 so all hams can afford it. It works horizontally and vertically the same. Gain is 20db over isotropic dirt. The front to back is an amazing -25db in all directions!!

 

Lots of changes have been made at this company since it's transfer and I'm not pleased based on personal experience.

 

Care to elaborate?

73,
Dan / ab0re

 

You're welcome to Email me.

 

I'm sort of at a loss to understand why all the poking at a reflectorless antenna.
Most of you well informed people, know full well that a reflector is not necessarily needed in a beam design.
To make it simple for example, you can take a two element design and achieve gain with either a reflector or a director.
Reference 1972 ARRL Antenna Handbook page 146/147 text and attendant plots.
I have built antennas from this handbook and they absolutely work as described.
.
The designer of this 6m antenna has perfected the use of a adjustable flat mounted loop/rectangle types of driven element that results in an impedance closer to 50 ohm feedline match.
His other beams have proven to be quieter in VHF/UHF use especially for EME.
Why; it's not the loop driver but the tighter overall patterns for those beams that have been developed for less response to interfering noise from other directions that tend to make the use of these designs more effective and appear quieter.
Yes we have both 2 and 6m beams from this company for several years 'before' they ever came to the US from England.
Good luck.

 

I suspect the reason why people are "poking" at the antenna is because we have yet to be informed of and/or experience the benefits. In InnovAntenna's literature for the reflector-less yagi, I didn't see mention of the yagi being any quieter or having a cleaner pattern as you suggested.

Additionally, do a quick comparison between InnovAntenna's 6M antenna, the 6R6, and an antenna of one of their competitors. We can use the M2 6M5XHP for comparison:

InnovAntennas 6R6 has 0 reflectors, 1 driven element, and 5 directors. It yields 12.2dBi gain on a 255" (6.5 meter) boom.
M2's 6M5XHP has 1 reflector, 1 driven element, and 3 directors. It yields 11.54dBi gain on a 216" boom.

Both antennas have ~21dB front-to-back ratio. Whereas the InnovAntenna model has ~1/2dB more gain, it is 40" inches longer and has an additional element. I haven't seen the price on the 6R6 yet, but I can tell you I had a little sticker shock reviewing the pricing onsome of their other models at force12inc.

A brief review of the numbers hasn't convinced me to sway from the "tried and true" yagi design. If the antenna is, in fact, quieter, all other things constant, that should be InnovAntenna's focus in their advertising literature as the numbers alone aren't likely to convince most skeptics. And hams are, by their very nature, skeptical. We've all been taken for a ride by an antenna manufacturer and their advertising claims at one time or another.

73,
Dan / ab0re

 

k8mrz Stepper IR uses a tunable loop for a driven element. just get rid of the reflector an listen to what comes in the back end of the beam.