I know that there are several folks out there who are using chicken wire ground screens in addition to radials for their verticals. I'm curious to know if the various sections of chicken wire are (1)
We used to use two 100' by 4' rolls of galvanized chicken wire laid out in a + pattern for a Field Day Vertical. It worked well but was not permanent. We attached the wires to the ground lug of the a
I wish the steel did disappear as quickly as that! A previous owner of this QTH set up a field test about 20 years ago, and the steel is still as sharp, rusty as ever. The mesh isn't strong enough to
NO! Go back to the ARRL Antenna Book and re-study the chapter on "The Effect of Ground." Radials have NOTHING to do with the earth. Radials REPLACE the earth in the antenna circuit by providing a muc
Check out www.k3lr.com for Rob Sherwood's paper given during the 2009 Dayton antenna forum. If I recall correctly, he used hardware cloth that was hot-galvanized after weaving and fastened together w
Pete, thanks for that tip. I was at Dayton, but only briefly and didn't have a chance to attend any forums. 73, Joe K2XX _______________________________________________ ______________________________
Jim, it is my understanding that unless the radials provide a perfect shield over the ground, some of the return current will flow through the radials and the rest through the ground. More radials pr
I've not heard that way of describing it. A better way of understanding it is to view the earth as a loosy path for return currents and fields, and the radial system as a low resistance path. That pa
I might actually give this idea a try this fall. You could roll out the chicken wire in several directions and tie it into the normal radial system for some increased performance (?) during the winte
Chicken wire is not a good idea. Why? The wire corrodes where it is tied together and creates a junction that has a higher resistance. After awhile you have a ground plane full of little resistors. I
If you look hard at chicken wire you'll see that any surface treatment was apparently applied to the wire before it was twisted. Hardware cloth and my favorite, something called 2 x 4 galvanized mesh
K9YC: near the base of the antenna, so copper near the tower is more important than copper at a distance in reducing I squared R losses. This is why AM broadcast stations often use a heavy copper scr
you are well advised to use real copper which will last forever (but I hate to think what that might cost). A 3' X 100' (300 sq ft) roll costs only $1,683, so I assume a 20' X 20' square screen (400
Oops, the 40' X 40' screen Jim mentioned is 1600 sq ft, making the total cost $8,976. For $1.5k I could build a complete 4-square with 60 each 130' radials (~6 miles using 3 one mile rolls of twin WD
I generally agree about the "broadcast myth" part -- there was a lot of "go for broke" mentality in it. Remember -- in the days where this was developed and practiced, AM broadcasting was all there w
This is an interesting point. One function of the ground screen in this case would be that it makes the array pattern less sensitive to changes in the ground conductivity under the radiator. I'd vent
My thoughts that when this was in use the AM broadcasters needed and wanted every bit of possible signal. As it was a very competitive market, any gimmick was tried or used. In an attempt to mimic br
I really, really wish people would stop making generalities like that regarding amps versus antennas. Every situation is different, and many don't even come close to supporting that statement. Here a
Easy Dave, Its all subjective at the end of the day in Ham Radio via email... there just isn't sub-text or body language to help clarify statements. Enjoy, dave wa3gin -- Original Message -- From: "D
Getting 10 dB gain over a modest antenna system can sometimes be very expensive. I just figured what it would take to get 10 dB more gain than my XM240 at 66 ft over my terrain, which is sloping grou