Message posted by gary on October 06, 2002 at 16:15:34 PST:

Regarding the top hat being a ground plane for an antenna, I'm more inclined to go with your original assumption that the hat is used for lightning or more likely static discharge (precursor to lightning). Generally a ground plane is a series of radials, not a solid surface.

While there may be some resemblance to the camo dude antenna, generally those low profile antennas are used only in mobile applications, or a location where somebody may vandalize the site. [As if Badger would ever get an unauthorized visitor.] Generally the low profile antennas are very low gain (if not negative gain), so they are not a good choice for a site that is solar powered, since the lack of gain needs to be made up in the amplifier. [The antenna gain is free in that no extra DC power is required.] Typically a UHF repeater site will use 4 folded dipoles in parallel, such as the antenna at this link:
http://www.polarelec.com.au/cat/a/ant/fda_p960.htm

In Reply to: Re: Badger Mountain posted by Joerg (Webmaster) on October 06, 2002 at 15:22:59 PST:

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