Hi John,
While I have not tried the grounding system you suggested, I checked with the
mfr of my Zero Five 43' vertical and he approved my alternate grounding
solution.
Five years ago my XYL wanted to replace the small back yard field of grass I
had the semi-circle of grounding radials in (limited space & antenna location
issues) with pavers to make an outdoor entertainment area.
My solution was to work with the paver contractor and after he had prepared the
area and put down the layer of sand, I bought 100' (long) x 4' tall 2"x 4"
galvanized fencing. I then laid the fencing down in the sand to create a 42' x
8' "carpet" of grounding material that I attached to a 1' square ft metal plate
I placed around the base of the vertical's mast ... and attached the wire
carpet in 6 different places with #12 stranded wire soldered to the fencing (I
needed a plumber's torch and steel wool to clean the galvanize off and solder
the joints). I then coated all the solder joints with Krylon clear paint to
protect them from the elements. I also used some of the left over fencing so
there's a 4' x 8' add in one area (making the carpet 12' x 8' in that one
spot). Of course, the 3 pieces of fencing all got soldered together in
MULTIPLE places to assure electrical conductivity throughout.
Forgot to mention ... there are two 8' ground rods from the initial antenna
installation adjacent to the vertical and they too are attached to that square
grounding plate.
My contractor then completed the job so my radial system is completely hidden
under the pavers. The XYL is happy because she got her entertainment space
complete with a fire pit and my antenna seems to work better on 80m & 160m than
when I had the 16 various length radials in the grass connected to that square
metal plate I previously mentioned ... WIn, win!
Good luck with your grounding system project.
73 - Steve N1BKB
PS. I also ran a #10 wire line from the tower supporting my SteppIR Urban Beam
to the ground plate to avoid multiple independent ground paths for my station.
On Tuesday, October 28, 2025 at 08:20:17 AM PDT, John Webster NN1SS
<nn1ssnh@gmail.com> wrote:
Has anyone tried K2AV's folded counterpoise instead of radials - raised or
otherwise?
John
NN1SS
On Tue, Oct 28, 2025 at 10:17 AM <john@kk9a.com> wrote:
> Back when N6BT owned Force12 they manufactured Sigma vertical dipoles. It
> was a sideways H shape fed in the middle and it had handmade wire inductors
> to reduce the length. I always thought that was a pretty good antenna for
> its size and ease of installation.
>
> John KK9A
>
> Jack Brindle W6FB wrote:
>
> One very pertinent thing that has not been mentioned is N6BT's development
> of Vertical Open Ring (VOR) antennas. In this design the "ground wire" is
> actually a 1/4 wave ring that wraps around the base of the antenna. The
> vertical is up off the ground some distance (less than 1/4 wave, perhaps
> 1/8
> wave). The antenna is described in the latest (4th) edition of Tom's book
> "Array of Light". He has spoken of it in quite a few presentations that
> are
> now available on Youtube, including an NCCC meeting earlier this year.
> Definitely worth a view.
>
> It is also interesting that the November issue of QST shows an antenna of
> this design, by G4UNA. Either the author re-invented Tom's work, or failed
> to give him credit, but this article also demonstrates the VOR concept.
> Essentially the radial consists of a 1/4 wave piece of wire that extends
> out
> from the base at an angle, then forms a partial square around the antenna.
> The wire is terminated before it touches itself, thus the square is not
> completed. In Tom's experiments he showed that the wire might make up only
> three sides of the square and perform just as well as if it extends on the
> fourth side.
>
> By the way, his book is also a gold mine for ideas about raised radial
> verticals. They perform incredibly well at the beach - he still holds
> several QRP records from the Caribbean for QRP contests using these
> antennas. Contemporary reports show that the gull-wing style of radials
> perform very well.
>
> This topic is very well discussed in ON4UN's "Low Band DXing" and slightly
> lesser so in the latest ARRL Antenna Book.
>
> Sounds like some experimentation may be in store to see what works best for
> the OP.
>
> 73,
> Jack, W6FB
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
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