On Mon, 02 Oct 2006 23:11:03 -0400, AB2E Darrell wrote:
>Ideally, the tuned radials should be mounted about 10ft above ground.
You got only part of the story. Elevated radials need to be a
significant fraction of a quarter-wave above ground to be as effective
as a much larger number of on-the-ground radials, and 10 ft is far from
high enough on 160. There is a good discussion of elevated radial
systems in ON4UN's book.
Increasing the number of radials improves performance by reducing loss
in the earth. Your installation with only 3 or 4 radials at 10 ft
probably still had a lot of ground loss. So did my wrought iron fence
in Chicago. But like your setup, it was better than nothing, and both
of us managed to have some fun on 160 with less than ideal antennas. :)
73,
Jim Brown K9YC
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