[TenTec] Problem on 160 meters, Whats up?

[Jim Brown K9YC]

On Wed, 18 Mar 2009 12:03:34 EDT, Rsoifer at aol.com wrote:

>just use the best ground system your QTH will allow.  

That's great advice, but don't confuse things by calling these 
conductors a "ground system." It is NOT! This SYSTEM is a 
counterpoise for the antenna, and it is a return for E/M field that 
the antenna is trying to establish. The EARTH has NOTHING GOOD to 
contribute!  

The earth is lossy, it wastes transmitter power, and your 
transmitter warms the worms. The function of a radial system (or 
whatever you can use instead) is to capture that E/M field from the 
antenna in a good conductor so that I squared R losses are small, 
and the field never sees the lossy earth where I squared R losses 
are large. When I lived in Chicago, I used a big wrought iron fence 
that ran around the front of my city lot, plus some more radials 
that I found room for. My friend KK9H (in a Chicago suburb) uses the 
HVAC vents and the power system wiring in his house!  I've worked 
him several times on 160M from here in CA near San Francisco. He 
doesn't have a BIG signal, but he does get out and he does have fun. 
The top half of his antenna is a Tee vertical. 

73,

Jim Brown K9YC