Gain and Performance of Antennas
Don't confuse gain with performance. The general method of obtaining antenna gain refers to the vertical antenna pattern being narrowed and more signal being pushed outwards in a smaller aperture. The horizontal pattern remains a circle. Of course, with yagis, the radiated signal is concentrated in one direction and so the antenna becomes less omnidirectional.
An antennas' performance depends on how well it is suited to the application it was designed for. For example, a 6dB colinear antenna may be perfect for long distance communications with relatively flat terrain, but in mine site applications requiring communications in a variety of angles you may be better served with a unity gain coaxial dipole. This delivers unity gain but provides great coverage of the site. The 6dB antenna may well overshoot it's target and deliver poor performance to the site.
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