Topband: Elevated Radials

[Tom Rauch]

Hi Tom,

> The new antenna measures 11 dB louder at K5NA than the old antenna.  
> Now how much of this is from other factors, I don't know but this is
> 5dB more than expected with the 4-Square.   The antenna seems to be
> playing quite well in all directions with good F/B in each quadrant so
> I do not attribute this result to a funky pattern..

I measured about 5 dB or so improvement when using 60 radials on 
the ground compared to a system using 4 elevated radials.

If you allow 5 dB gain for the four-square plus normal meter errors, 
your measured results are in-line with what I measured in two 
separate tests comparing ground systems. You picked up maybe 
5 dB from the ground system, and the rest from antenna gain.
 
As to the polarization vs wave angle issue by John...there is no 
way to tell for certain. What I would need is a null at low angles on 
my vertical, which I suppose I could do if I top-loaded my tall tower.

I only know that a dipole at 300 feet is better than a dipole at 150 
feet, and much better than a dipole at 50 feet for any distance more 
than a few hundred miles....and a omni-vertical with a good ground 
system beats them all unless within a hundred miles at night. The 
higher I kept moving the dipole the better it worked, but I ran out of 
nerve at 318 feet. I'm getting too old to climb that high now.

73, Tom W8JI
W8JI@contesting.com 


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