TopBand: A NON-elevated radial question

Tyler Barnett tbarnett@lexmark.com
15 Oct 96 21:54:38 EDT


I hope that W8JIT and N7CL can comment on this one for me.
I'd ask this offline, but maybe everyone can benefit from the question.

My 80M 4-square is nearing completion (sorry this is an 80M question, not a 
160M question).
I started it last year, and laid down 45-50 radials per vertical, but didn't 
get done before winter.
Each radial is 50' long, except for about 20% which can't make it to 50'.  
I chose this length based on articles I read regarding radial fields under 
shortened verticals.
I think they said put down at least 40 radials, and make them at least as long 
as the vertical was tall.

I can't put up a tower, so I made up 4 aluminum verticals that start at 1.625", 
and taper to 3/8", and are 45' long.
I plan to guy them in 2 places, using 25' long copper wire "top-hats" on the 
top set of guys for top-loading to bring the verticals into resonance.

On this last vertical I went overboard, and laid down 100 radials, most of 
which were 50' long.

Questions:
1 -  Do you think 100 radials is overkill for my shortened system, or should I 
add more to the others to match?
2 - Can I use a noise-bridge or Autek to measure the radiation resistance, and 
add enough extra radials to each vertical to "balance" the resistance between 
all 4 verticals?  Is this even possible to measure?
3 - Are there any suggestions for improvement (considering no tower to hang 
them from, and property restrictions).

Looking forward to competing with all those elevated-radial 4-squares in the 
pileups.... :-)
Tyler N4TY


--
FAQ on WWW:               http://www.contesting.com/topband.html
Submissions:              topband@contesting.com
Administrative requests:  topband-REQUEST@contesting.com
Sponsored by Akorn Access, Inc & KM9P