At 10:26 PM 2/9/2008, Bill Dzurilla wrote:

Hi, Homebrewed a K5OE Eggbeater II and tried it out today, but did not notice much, if any, improvement over the 1/4 wave ground plane I had been using. Both were 30' high, 50' of 9913, no mast-mounted preamp. Can hear AO-51 OK but can barely hear AO-27 with both antennas.

Is this as good as it gets with an omnidirectional antenna? Can AO-27 be heard well with the M2 eggbeater? With a mast-mounted pre-amp? Is there a better omni than the eggbeater?

I hear AO-27 much better with an HT and an Arrow.

73, Bill NZ5N

Hi Bill,

A preamp is essential for operation with omni antennas when receiving on 435 MHz. Even directional antennas really need a preamp on 70cm for best results. The difference will be very noticable.

An eggbeater is not a bad antenna for 70cm. A Lindenblad is a little better but only from the standpoint of less deep fades. The signal strength will not be much all that much different on any of the omnis.

At my station, an omni with a preamp is about the same as a 10 db gain antenna without one and I use LMR-600 coax.

73, Tony AA2TX