You know, I was just thinking that we said dang near the same thing but just in a little bit different way. Hmm, amazing how like minds thing alike! And then again, that can really be more insulting than I intended, right? Oh well. I figure not using a balun is just one less 'point of failure' I have to contend with. The biggest difference is usually in the 'shape' of the radiation pattern, and since that can get really 'odd' from a number of reasons, how in the world can you correct that consistently?
There's always some 'variation' in the shape of a radiation pattern, doesn't matter if you are talking about a vertical antenna, a horizontal one. You 'learn' to compensate for that, especially with a directional antenna. Does that mean that you -might- miss something on the 'edge' of reception? Yep, but so what, that can happen with any antenna system. You can't 'correct' for everything, so do what you can and quit worrying about it!
Howz that for a compromise?? Or 'cop out', whatever you wanna call it?
- 'Doc