Antennas

Actual I use for EME/Tropo the 4x12el. DK7ZB and for Tropo/ES/MS the 4x5el. DK7ZB antennas. For 6m I use a 5el. DK7ZB antenna. Please see the gallery for pictures of that antennas. All my antennas are home brew. The 14x12el. are very sharp antennas with a gain together of 4 with ~21dB(d) and a horizontal angle of 12 degrees. The 4x5el. are wide with a horizontal angle of ~50 degrees so very good for contest use. I have 2 systems of them one on the main tower 17m over ground and pulled out the highest antenna is ~28m over ground. That little pistols have with ground gain a gain of 20dB(d). The second system is on a helping mast and because of the lowest antenna is only 4 meter over ground they do have nearly no ground gain at all so their gain is around 14-15 dB(d).
I really love that 4x5el. antennas because they are working great and they are easy to build. As well you can connect each 2 antennas with simple coax together because they are in 25 Ohm design. Please see details at the DK7ZB homepage: http://www.mydarc.de/dk7zb/PVC-Yagis/2x25_ohm.htm. Also I made a small builders PDF you can download here: LINK

Over the years I had several antenna systems from small to large and I found out that only a good designed and measured antenna works proper. Finally I decided to go for DK7ZB antennas and that was the right choice ! One finally word: measure your antennas ! Use a real analyzer like a MiniVNA or similar. That old f.e. MFJ 259/266 analyzer  is not good enough (any more).

The first EME antennas I operated have been 4x12el/9UX design. That antennas have been good and gave me first contacts via EME. gain was ~17dB(d).

old 16x7el./9UX – ~23dB(d) – lots of cable losses and mismatch/bad design also lots of mechanical problems.

old 8x7el./9UX – a downsize of the 16x7el to 8x7el.  ~18dB(d) – lots of cable losses and mismatch/bad design.