flcs3

The Hoverman is a variation on the Chireix, where the last segment of each doublet arm is turned outward horizontally rather than inward diagonally. It is also driven for horizontal polarization (the only Chireix designs that I have seen so far have been veritcally polarized). Each of the diagonal segments best radiates with a half-wavelength, and the 90 degree bends mitigate the interferrence caused by the current reversals that occur at higher harmonics on linear dipoles. Unfortunately, the basic Hoverman geometry shows poor VHF VSWR, even when the total length of each arm is properly tuned, but this can be improved with the use of open sleeve resonators (Cebik actually calls them parasitically driven elements) and tuned reflectors. The same remedies work to improve the bandwidth over that of the basic dipole, as does varying the length of the individual segments on the UHF band. Otherwise, you can make a gross estimate of gain by counting the effective half-wavelenth segments as dipole radiators (~2dBi), i.e. 4 at VHF (<+6dB) and 12 to 16 at UHF (<+10-12dB).

So, I think of the Chireix and Hoverman as something akin to a Franklin array, as a way to configure a dipole array with directly connected dipoles rather than using separate feed lines. Perhaps mistakingly, I think of (most) fractal antennas as dimensional compressions of existing designs, which hurt performance while helping it fit a particular application. However, I haven't been looking for their applications for multi-band harmonic operation, either.

BTW, in post 2 one of the pictures shows a trapper antenna, where folded dipoles are used in place of stubs connecting the Franklin array dipoles.

The Chireix is best known for shortwave use in the Chireix-Mesny curtain, which dates back to the 1920s (roughly contemporaneous with the development of the Yagi-Uda). Although Chireix was awarded many patents, mostly for RF amplifier designs, I haven't found one for this antenna. RCA Review had an early description in English, about 1928. Hoverman had US Patents issued in 1959 and 1964. The Trapper patent was awarded in 1955 and assigned to TACO.