Hi Brendan,
You'll have an arcing problem if you lay chicken wire directly on radials with
no insulation. You could avoid this if you bond the radials to the outer edge
of the chicken wire, but this is likely to be a tedious task.
I recommend installation of additional radials as time allows. Approximately
60 radials is an excellent target.
My 160 meter 4-square array started with elevated radials, but subsequent
installation of sixty 1/4 wave radials laid on the ground under each vertical
was well worth the investment of time and money.
I drove through your town five years ago on my way from Clifden to Sligo. I
hope to visit the west of Ireland again soon, its an extraordinary place.
73
Frank Donovan
W3LPL
---- Original message ----
>Date: Thu, 04 Nov 2010 15:22:36 +0000
>From: Brendan Minish <ei6iz.brendan@gmail.com>
>Subject: Topband: radials
>To: Topband <topband@contesting.com>
>
>Under my 1/4 wave Inverted L (~18M vertical section) I have a mix of
>buried radials and radials lying on the grass (for the winter months
>only)
>
>In total there are around 20 radials with lengths of between 1/8 and 1/4
>wavelength long.
>
>the ground here is very good, in the winter the field is saturated
>nearly all the time and the system seems to play well.
>The far field ground is the same type of soil and the Irish weather
>keeps it well saturated all winter..
>
>With all the radials out the feed point impedance at resonance is around
>25 Ohms but it's hard to say how much of this is due to the proximity to
>the tower and other antennas.
>
>I have the opportunity to roll out a couple of rolls of chicken wire on
>top of the radials, however there is significant work involved and I'll
>have to get it back up again in the string. Am I likely to be able to
>improve things further or would my efforts be better spent getting more
>radials out ?
>
>Any suggestions on how to make some quantifiable measurements as I
>change things?
>
>
>--
>73
>Brendan EI6IZ
>
>_______________________________________________
>UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
_______________________________________________
UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
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