I am thinking about a change Is a cobweb antenna going to give me better results than a long wire across bands 6 to 80 mts Uk resident
Rather like asking whether a Flat is going to be more comfortable than a House ! What length of longwire would you put up, and how high? And what kind of Cobweb? Personally, I think a Cobweb is very much a compromise antenna . . . for those with very little space . . . and for someone who doesn't know how to make an ATU. Roger G3YRO
I agree with Roger. They're useful for people who have only limited space to work with, but my experience with them hasn't been very positive. I've built a couple and neither of them were anywhere near as good as my Gap Titan vertical or my OCFD. But I have to admit that the difficulties I had could have been due to construction issues on my part or local conditions. The commercially available ones have always seemed ridiculously expensive to me, though. Paying several hundred bucks for what essentially is nothing more than some wire and bits of aluminum tubing and a balun, well, no thanks. But as is almost always the case with antennas, your local conditions are going to have a lot to do with how well any antenna works, and those are different for everyone. And even a compromise antenna is better than no antenna at all.
I have a high band "Cobweb" from MFJ. While it may be a so called "compromise" I couldn't be happier with it. Mine stands a mere 15ft but has performed flawlessly especially for dx contacts. The far east for example. If you could handle gain over a vertical then you can't go wrong IMHO.
I agree with you 100%. just like a Long Wire is a compromise antenna for someone who has space for a proper antenna.
A long wire is likely to be more directional than a cobweb which is close to omni directional. And FWIW I agree with YGN. Both my Gap vertical and OCFD typically outperform my cobweb though the cobweb is "quieter" on receive. Next Spring my plan is to replace the cobweb with a small triband yagi
