> If you will pardon a newcomer ( to your group) for poking his " beazer" into
> what appears to be an ongoing argument, an argument that I am sure will
> continue
Actually, there wasn't any argument. Just some questions and answers (in
March), and my additional recent comments.
> Does he really mean a radial or a counterpoise?
As I say, I'm not a 'verticals' guy, so I don't necessarily know the proper
nomenclature. But I thought he meant the wire was buried, which I think
makes it count as a radial, even though there was only one and radials
usually implies several, in a mostly radial pattern emanating from the base.
I suppose one could say that a radial system is one form of counterpoise.
It is where the other part of the current at the base of the tower goes.
> I too have served my time working with AM stations, the vertical of my station
> was surrounded by 160 radials that, after the first few feet, were burried
> under
> egg sized rocks.
Around here, they are either in moist soil, or (more commonly) in wetlands.
My last AM station was in a marsh. At high tide I think the radials
were submerged.
> However,when working with Ham Band verticals, I have been under the
> impression that a minimum of 4 radial, each 1/4 wave length of the lowest
> frequency to be used was a necessity. ( and yes, I understand that more is
> usually better, up to a certain point, ) Am I wrong about the length or does
> it
> matter ?
Well, from what I've read elsewhere, burying them (in soil) detunes them so
much that length hardly makes any difference; they just need to be more than
about 1/10 wavelength long to be effective. The current couples into the
conductive soil, ground water, etc.
If the soil is very dry/rocky, maybe length is more important.
> walk or Juniors swing set, sandbox etcettra) . If that obsticle is a
> beautiful yard full of
> grass that you are understandably reluctant to dig up, the solution is to
> beg, borrow or
> otherwise scrounge a side walk trimmer. With it you can easily make very
> nice, narrow,
> cuts in the grass, without any dirt being thrown up on the grass. You then
> simply stuff
> the radial wire into the cut you just made and when you next water the grass
> the cuts
> will disappear.
I've read that some people just lay the wire on the ground, maybe stapled
down to hold it in place, and after a few mows you can't tell that it's
there anymore.
Andy
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