I have made & purchased quite a few antennas, most perform adequately however the latest one that I made performs very well. It's called a QUAGI. The Good part (for me) is it has exceptional forward gain and is quite broad banded, the front and back pickup are adequate. The bad parts are the boom is 16 feet long, the boom has to be made out of a nonconducting material like wood or PVC pipe and the elements a long. There is a ton of reading material and plans on the internet. The antenna design software I used can be found here:
http://www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/jump2.cgi?ID=12761 click on Quagi : Antennas/Quagi on the first page then on the next page look for: Quagi Designer.... Freeware by VE3SQB, it's the forth from the bottom. Download this, then click save, then click the quagi (2).exe , then click run to start the program, at least that's how it works on my computer: windows vista and google chrome web browser.
It's a direct connect antenna (just hookup your coax direct to the driven element) no balun needed, also the coax connection has to be connected on the horizontal side of the element (not on the vertical side). They say the way you run the coax on the driven element and boom has to be done a certain way however I moved it all around without any noticeable (to my ears) difference. I used 12 gauge solid copper insulated wire for the reflector and driven elements (taken from electrical romex wire) and 1/4" aluminum rods (it's what I had on hand) for the directors. I joined two wooden 1"x 2" that where 8' long for the boom. I painted the boom with gray primer to help protect the wood. I have a drill press which makes the holes perfectly. I used 1/2" PVC pipe and crosses for the reflector and driven element support. In-joy!!
KEL
P.S. Now I'm off to make one for the UHF Military Band
