Topband: Radial length

[Peter Dougherty]

At 10:29 AM 11/30/2006, Telegrapher9 at aol.com wrote:
>Peter,
>
>one long radial running under the horizontal section appears to be 
>quite beneficial, at least in simulation. The other radials should 
>be as about long as the vertical section is tall. The question seems 
>to be "what is the best performance given 500 feet of wire?" Your 
>long and short plan sounds good to me. The lengths can be random - 
>you do not have to cut them to a specific length if they are lying 
>on the ground.
>
>I will run a simulation and get back to you today on what looks the 
>best given 500 feet of wire.

Actually, I will be running more than 500'. I have about 800 or 900' 
on hand (with the new spool) and I hope to get most of that down by 
the weekend. If I can get 1000' of #20 or 22 at a fair price I'll see 
what I can do about putting that out there too. The real problem is a 
2-story garage about 10' away from the radial plate, limiting the 
directions in which I can run longer radials. IF I could go through 
the garage I'd have about 120 degrees worth of space to play with 
(putting them under the "good" half of the back yard). Wire isn't the 
problem, it's how I can run it that's the limiting factor, unfortunately.

Here's a question: If I bunch let's say 10 or 15 radials together to 
go 'round the back of the garage, then spread their ends out on the 
other side, would that be effective or a waste of copper? 
Essentially, think of it as one thick radial about 30-40' long, 
fanning out after that.




Cheers,

Peter,
W2IRT