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From: Gary, WA6HZT
Date: 04 Jul 1999
Time: 16:29:23
Remote Name: 207.183.240.35
Ben, et al:
The CFA delivers performance just like all the hype would have you believe! My usual antenna is a 130' wire up 65 feet at the top, with the end 8' above ground, into a tuner. On 40 and 80 the CFA sigs are ALWAYS within an S unit or two of the wire. And, depending on the angle of arrival of the received signal, the CFA will outperform the wire! The CFA is in my radio room (formerly a bedroom) in my home, away from a window, and butted up against a wall, about 4 feet off the floor on a card table. I've managed one QSO since finishing it Friday (7/2) at 10 PM. That was yesterday afternoon on 80 CW with a guy five or ten miles away (it was still light). His report from me was 579, mine from him 559. BUT...he was running 40 Watts into an inverted Vee outside, while I was running 8 Watts into the CFA stuffed into a corner of my house! Just the difference in operating power alone accounts for an S unit (6 db) and I think I'm being generous allowing for only another 6 db of attenuation from indoor operation. I'm QRP for now since this is just cardboard & aluminum with small compression trimmers as tuning caps. They arc over at about 10 Watts, so I have to keep it down. Next one will have the real deal and should handle power easily. Tuned right up, with almost flat VSWR. Haven't bothered to retap the toroid... it's 1.3:1 as it is, and, being just a simple test model, is fine for now. I'm busy trying to resonate the thing on 160. THAT will be a blast to see the level of performance I've seen on 40 & 80 on Top Band! These things are amazing little beasties. Weird, wonderful science. I followed the Stefano article faithfully (with minor variations) and it was right there from the beginning. Hope this helps!
73, Gary