Topband: Beverage now too short?

[Tom Rauch]

I would reply to Steve direct, but his server kicks out e-mail as 
"junk-mail".

A short Beverage really suffers when unterminated. That's because 
the wire near the open end does nothing, there is no current flowing 
into the open circuit......... so effectively the antenna is "shorter" 
than a terminated wire the same length.

The longer the Beverage the more it "self-terminates", because of 
coupling to the lossy earth below the wire and a much lesser 
extent radiation. Models do not show this effect well.

Steve also could have a break in the wire.

The problem with any "less than ideal" antenna is subtle changes 
can make the antenna appear to stop working. Models do a very 
poor job of predicting real world wires near earth, and all the other 
objects around the antenna don't help things.
 
73, Tom W8JI
w8ji@contesting.com



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