Couple of questions :
I know that the more the gain the antenna is, the more directional it is. Now, the solution I was given is supposed to radiate power into all directions horizontally. Also stacking antennas vertically like I did is supposed to increase the overall gain, right? So how can these two sentences play out together? Is it reducing power radiated up and down and increasing horizontally in all directions(North, South, East, West) ?
And regarding ERP, is that the number I see in my amplifier? Is that the effective radiated power? In my case is ~1000 watts like you could see in the photo above?
And, the photo above, is it an indication that the overall system is in a healthy state and running optimally since almost no power is being reflected ?
Few more questions:
I'd like to use the curves published by FCC to predict my range, but they require you to enter the field strength value in dbu. I read it about it a little, but still don't know the typical value that will allow typical car radios to successfully receive the signal.....so what should I put for field strength ?
And from where should I measure my antenna height? From the bottom element or the top one?
Okay last question....range can't be really predicted I know, but what should I really hope for? And given my antenna, Tx power, and the height of ~30 meters, what range value that will make me think I'm doing something wrong? In other words, what range shouldn't be acceptable by me?