ON6URE PoTaSupreme™ eats POTA Performer for breakfast
ON6URE PoTaSupreme™ eats POTA Performer for breakfast
Fewer radials, a bigger name and enough claimed directionality to make breakfast uncomfortable. Let us send the PoTaSupreme into the portable-vertical arena and see which claims survive.
The sales pitch practically writes itself: if two radials can be promoted as directional, one lonely radial must be even more supreme. Unfortunately for breakfast, an asymmetric pattern, a peak in one direction, radiation efficiency and realised gain are still different quantities—and a flattering plot does not make them interchangeable.
Mark Takes PoTaSupreme Into the Field
In Silly ham radio claims about the POTA PERformer antenna, Mark K3ZD takes RF.Guru’s PoTaSupreme premise into the field. The technical challenge is simple: moving from “the pattern favours one direction” to a fixed gain claim requires a declared reference, complete geometry, accepted-power boundary, ground model and measured or validated pattern.
What Is Really in the Breakfast Bowl?
A quarter-wave-like vertical needs a return-current structure. Two elevated radials, one radial, the feed-line exterior, a tripod and nearby ground can all participate. Changing that structure can alter terminal impedance, current division and the three-dimensional pattern.
But “more asymmetric” does not mean “more useful gain” by a universal number or direction. A one-radial arrangement behaves more like a bent, installation-sensitive two-conductor antenna than a magic beam. Soil, radial slope, feed-line route, height and choking can move lobes and nulls. Some power may be redistributed; some may be dissipated; some may travel on an omitted conductor.
The PoTaSupreme rule: if a claimed improvement disappears when you ask “gain relative to what, in which direction, at what accepted power and with which return path?”, the claim is not ready for a product label.
Pattern, Gain and Efficiency Refuse to Be the Same Word
| Quantity | What it describes | What it does not establish alone |
|---|---|---|
| Radiation pattern | How radiated field or power varies with direction and polarisation | Total radiated power or loss |
| Directivity | Pattern concentration relative to an isotropic reference | Conductor, ground or matching efficiency |
| Gain | Directivity including radiation efficiency under a defined antenna boundary | Mismatch unless the definition includes it |
| Realised gain | Gain including mismatch at the declared input plane | An omitted feed line, tripod or different field installation |
| RDF | Receive directivity factor derived from the receiving pattern | Transmit efficiency or a universal S-unit improvement |
IEEE 145-2025 keeps these terms separate for a reason. A lobe growing on a normalised plot can result from pattern redistribution while absolute realised gain stays unchanged—or falls.
NEC Solves the Model You Actually Enter
NEC is ideal for testing whether an asymmetric return structure can tilt or reshape a pattern. It is not a truth machine for geometry that was left out. A useful model includes the radiator, every radial, feed arrangement, exterior coax, choke boundary, tripod or mast, conductor loss and an appropriate ground.
The Lawrence Livermore NEC description explicitly identifies wires, ground, loads, networks, transmission lines, currents and patterns as model inputs and outputs. Change the inputs and the result changes. Validate the model against a controlled field comparison before advertising a dB number.
How to Make a Portable-Antenna Claim That Survives Breakfast
- Name the reference antenna and use the same feedpoint or accepted-power plane.
- Document radiator, radial, mast, tripod, feed-line and choke geometry.
- State ground parameters, height, frequency, polarisation and observation angle.
- Measure or model the full three-dimensional pattern rather than one favoured cut.
- Separate impedance match, radiation efficiency, directivity, gain and realised gain.
- Report uncertainty and repeat the comparison after swapping feed paths or antenna order.
A portable vertical may be convenient, repeatable and entirely useful without winning a universal gain contest. That is a stronger claim because an operator can actually verify it.
The Roast, Properly Understood
PoTaSupreme does not eat anything for breakfast. It does not exist. The satire exists because a confident antenna name can make ordinary current redistribution sound like newly discovered gain. Joeri pushed the premise to one radial; Mark made the absurdity visible on video.
Keep the laugh. Then do the measurement.
Engineering References
- Ham Florida Man: Silly ham radio claims about the POTA PERformer antenna
- IEEE 145-2025: antenna terminology
- IEEE 149-2021: antenna measurement practice
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory: NEC-5
Mini-FAQ
- Can I buy a PoTaSupreme? No. It is a fictional RF.Guru parody, not a product or prototype.
- Was the joke saying two-radial verticals do not work? No. They can be useful portable antennas. The joke targets unsupported gain conclusions.
- Does removing radials create gain? It changes the current system and may redistribute the pattern. Useful realised gain still requires the complete antenna boundary, losses and reference to be measured.
- Will the strongest lobe always point toward the remaining radial? No universal direction follows from radial count alone. Height, slope, feed line, ground and the whole geometry matter.
- Can NEC answer the question? NEC can calculate a declared model. The result is only as complete as its geometry, loss, ground, feed-line and network assumptions.
- What should a dB claim include? A reference antenna, direction, polarisation, frequency, power plane, complete geometry, method and uncertainty.