Topband: Beverage antenna ground

[Ed Swiderski, KU4BP]

Hello all,

I have a question to all concerning the ground stake for a Beverage. Through
my reading I see some differnet opinions over the type and size of it. Have
read about using standard 8-foot ground rods, then 4-foot and then 2-foot
are OK. Also, I have seen that copper pipe of the same varying lengths and
diameters are OK. What I would like to know is what has seemed to work best
for you?

I put up my first Beverage last year and it has worked OK, not great but OK.
It's a bi-directional 300ft long, 6 feet high and spaced 12 inches using
K1FZ boxes, KB-2 and KB-3, running E-W. I have used two different grounds on
both ends so far. A 4-foot 1/2" rod and 4-foot 5/8" copper pipe. I'm going
to increase its length by 100 feet and was interested in knowing what some
of you have used and what was most succesful or does it really make a
difference.

I realize that my antenna length may not be optimal for 160 but I think
anything will be a help.

Thanks,
Ed Swiderski KU4BP
Lexington, NC