Topband: Effects of trees

[Jim Monahan]

Mike:

I've live with the situation of having several acres of heavily
forested trees. It is part of a watershed area and the
trees, which mostly sit on top of each other, often have
water in them.

That is due, of course, to a relatively high water table
that feeds one of the three local reservoirs.

I discovered this by screwing in various standoffs to hold
up elevated radials and beverage wires and watch the water
ooze out.

While each situation is different, in this case, I believe there
is a significant effect by the trees that surround and hold up
my antennas.

By using reference horizontal and other verticals on the property,
over the past 15 years, I've concluded, and I'm the first to say
that this is subjective, that the trees here have a detrimental
effect on overall performance.

This is especially true in the summertime when the foliage is quite dense
and, the sap and/or water is probably more of an effect.

Over a period of time and comparing horizontal to vertical performance,
it appears consistently, at various time and distances, that the performance
of the vertically polarized antennas is reduced about 10 dB during the
summer time as compared to the winter.

But, what concerns me the most is what effect my "rain forest" has in the winter
but I don't have a way of determining that.

73, Jim, K1PX

K1PX at msn.com