Towertalk
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [TowerTalk] W7PUA Tiny Ground Probe

To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] W7PUA Tiny Ground Probe
From: Jim Brown <jim@audiosystemsgroup.com>
Reply-to: jim@audiosystemsgroup.com
Date: Wed, 4 Mar 2026 10:31:09 -0800
List-post: <mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
On 3/4/2026 6:58 AM, RT Clay via TowerTalk wrote:
Non-contact measurement of ground conductivity is a standard method in 
geophysics and archaeology.

As a young EE student, I worked for Carl Smith, who co-authored the FCC AM Technical Rules after WWII, in his practice designing antenna systems for new applications. In support of his own application for 10 kW daytime on 680 kHz in Charleston, WV, second adjacent channel to WLW about 200 miles away, he ran radials plotting field strength in that direction to prove non-interference. He eventually got the license.

I strongly suspect that method was used after WWII to construct the FCC maps that are still on the FCC website. To run a radial, field strength measurements were made with standard test equipment at many points at a single azimuth from a station operating on the frequency in question. Ground wave attenuation is strongly related to frequency, especially at LF, and multiple FCC curves for attenuation vs distance based on that data in the AM Rules are for small segments of the AM band, and the map generated using those curves.

I've downloaded the map (which is in pdf segments) to my website. http://k9yc.com/FCC-GroundMap.zip

73, Jim K9YC


_______________________________________________



_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>