During my Arctic Diamonds presentation on the CCF/OHDXF Ferry Cruise in January, – Tonno, ES5TV asked me whether I had any ”normal” antennas to compare my rhombics with.
My answer was a tongue-in-cheek reply to the effect that since I had unlimited space at my disposal, I wasn´t interested in limited space antennas.
A fellow Rhombic owner who indeed has such a comparison antenna sent me the following audio files which demonstrate the difference between the reception of ”normal ” antennas and Rhombics.
The first audio file is of TL0A an Amateur Radio Station located in the Central African Republic, recorded using a huge Log Periodic at 30 meters height.
Most Radio Amateurs would kill to have such an antenna ! 
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The second recording is made 3 minutes later, from the same location, but this time using a Rhombic antenna to receive TL0A.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
A visual comparison of the two files says more than a thousand words:
TL0A on LP antenna
TL0A received with a Rhombic
My Rhombic colleague commented as follows:
”… you will hear what a 30 meter high 6.5 dB gain antenna sounds like with a very wide radiation pattern. It is ideal to pick up all the noise and electrical storms in the equatorial noise zone.
The other recording is 3 minutes later, with a Rhombic with 20 dB gain, 10 meters high, low take off angle- and a beam width of just 10 degrees. It is not so much that the signal is that much stronger, it is that the noise is that much less. Note the ease with which it is possible to pick up and follow S1 stations that are very weak.
A Rhombic is not just about the gain, it is much more about the noise which you Dont Get…”
I rest my case.
I put up a Force 12 C-31XR at 22 meters Jan 09 – Great antenna and have worked lots of great dx in very few calls while in pile ups and using no power . The antenna is very quiet most of the time .Last winter with every snow storm we had I would get a noise level at times of S 9 . I found the antenna worthless in those snow storms. By the end of next winter I can furnish more information about the antenna.
I had a 2 el quad up for 4 years – Very good limited space antenna and quiet. I worked many DX stations with it.
I built a Rhombic out of 17 gauge galvanized electric fence wire. 350 feet per leg – The antenna was 45 feet above the ground. Lets consider the lossy wire and lower height. By design it was a rhombic but not even close to a true Arctic Rhombic.My antenna was 5 s units quieter than quad on 20 meter band . It was much more quiet than G5RV-M at 70 feet. I never picked up noise from snow or rain storms. When I worked VU7RG on 20 meters I could not hear him on the quad. I went to my poor mans rhombic and they were loud and clear. Every day I would hear the VU7 Stations on the Rhombic and not the other antennas. I worked stations 80-17 meters with the Rhombic. I have tested many dipole antennas verses a G5RV-M or Extended Double Zepp. The antennas with more capture space always won in receive and transmit.
With my poor mans rhombic I heard and worked stations I never would have worked with the quad on 20 . Stations 40 -30 meters were 6 s units louder than dipole type antennas on the path I had the Rhombic pointed .Some days when I would go to the rhombic the bands were so quiet I would wonder if it was connected to radio.
If I had the space I would put a Rhombic up in every direction and forget about low gain beams.
My question to every one is how many towers and beams or quads have been destroyed by winds and ice? Would those antennas survive even one winter in Iceland? Rhombic antennas have proven they can withstand bad winds and ice storms.
73 Jim WB3CQM
In a private email some scepticism was expressed. This is what the commenting system is for!
1. The noise received on the LP sounds like a constant electrical discharge rather than from natural causes.
2. If it is a local source of noise, it may be very close to the LP antenna and could be picked up by the LP antenna´s feed line.
3. Both the LP and the Rhombic are balanced antennas. Are the Balun transformers on both antennas of equal quality? It is not unknown to dispense completely with a balun at an LP antenna´s feedpoint, perhaps this is the case? In that case, 30m of coax would readily pick up vertically polarized noise in the vicinity.
4. If the noise is coming from a certain direction, it might land in a deep null on the Rhombic by coincidence. This situation might be completely different if another Rhombic was selected.
All completely valid points which call for further investigation.
Obviously, there is a multitude of things that could be wrong with the LP antenna or in it´s vicinity.
Perhaps the LP antenna needs maintenance after all, or a local noise source need to be tracked down.
However, this has been my experience too in the tropics, constant S9 noise like ignition noise on all bands. Even in the Middle East this noise is constantly there.
But a Rhombic doesn´t seem to hear this noise at all, it is very quiet.
I used Rhombic antennas in Naqoura, South Lebanon and in Dili, East Timor.
The final words of my colleague hold true regardless:
”A Rhombic is not just about the gain, it is much more about the noise which you Dont Get…”