TopBand: radial debate add-ons

[Peter]

Being new to 160 (I hope to work many of you!) I have put up for my first
antenna a inverted L...well, a sort of lazy one.  The vertical portion
goes up approx 38 feet, the remainder of the wire which would be considered
the horizontal portion, goes south,southwest to a point approx 100 feet back
and 25 feet off the ground.  The whole antenna length is approx 1/4 wave length
an probably has no appreciable gain.  The antenna is being fed with coax of
which the shield is connected to only a ground rod.

I have a high water table in my back yard.  The water is what one would call
"rusty water" of the non-drinkable type.  It seems to have a very high iron
content as when it is pumped from the ground and poured upon the pavement
it leaves a rust stain on the pavement after evaporation.

My question is this, Since I have no radials on my antenna system, and I
have a very broarbanded low SWR will radials "enhance" or improve the
performance of said antenna?  

P.S. the water is only 2 feet below the grass.

Any advice or observations would be appreciated!

Best regards everyone who reads this!

Peter Venlet, N8YEL
n8yel@k8daa.ampr.org



--
FAQ on WWW:               http://www.contesting.com/topband.html
Submissions:              topband@contesting.com
Administrative requests:  topband-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems:                 owner-topband@contesting.com