Topband: insulated vs:bare radial wires

[Rick Karlquist]

>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Wolfert, William R. [mailto:WWolfert at columbuspolice.org]
>> Sent: Saturday, December 05, 2009 9:13 AM
>> To: Tod -ID
>> Subject: RE: Topband: insulated vs:bare radial wires
>>
power.
>>
>> I'm sure you're aware of the Brown, Lewis and Epstein report
>> to the IEEE in 1937. It's still the standard. More recently,
>> N6LF and W8JI&W7EL did similar experimental measurements of
>> the effect of radials. Their independent results agree with
>> each other and all of them agree with the BLE report of 70
>> years ago. I don't know if you've ever read through the
>> Topband archives, but N7CL gives an excellent explanation of
>> what's happening with radials and our vertical antennas.

>> 73, Bill WR8K

No, BLE is not still the standard, except maybe at the FCC.
Also, Brown's ran out of wire  when he reached 113 radials.
The FCC later rounded this up to 120.  Latter day experts agree
that you don't need that many radials. The FCC wants them
for "insurance".

In any event, the BLE experiments do not address whether the
purpose of radials is to shield the ground or not.  That is
the question being debated here.

N6LF established that a few elevated radials, which do not shield the
ground, can be as effective as the traditional on-ground radial field.  He
also warns that the implementation is far more critical.

Rick N6RK