Topband: Fence "ground screen" instead of wire radials?

[Charles Moizeau]

My comment on this subject is directed to KM1H who in a recent posting said:
 > > I used 4' x 50' rabbit mesh (2x4") that was welded, then galvanized and then
> > plastic dipped for over 10 years at a prior QTH. It was purchased that way
> > at a garden store.
> >
> > Galvanizing is very easy to solder to with just normal rosin solder and all
> > I did was run some stranded #12 copper to the #6 copper ring at the base of
> > the shunt fed tower. A bit of spray autobody undercoating sealed the mesh
> > solder connections.
> >
> > Prior to this there were 60 radials,  60-135' long and performance was fair.
> > With the 4 sections of mesh on top of them it became a pileup buster and
> > contest winner.
> >
> > Carl
> > KM1H ********************************************************************* Carl, I have great respect for much of the anecdotal material presented in this forum. I do find it quite extraordinary that within the first 50 feet of radius of your larger plot of 60 radials that extended variously to lengths 
of 60-135 feet, you were able to achieve a significant performance increase by adding four 50-foot lengths of four-foot wide rabbit screening (2" x 4").   What I see is that you achieved this by adding just 800 square feet of screen to a an inner circle with a radius of 50 feet, whose area is approximately 7,800 square feet. Your "return" from 800 square feet of screen on an earlier "investment' of radial-laden 7,800 square feet is remarkable. I am guessing that your antenna was one whose current maximum appeared at its base, whereas mine, whose inverted L has its current maximum half way up its 85-foot vertical portion, would not achieve such spectacular results with the addition of the same 800 square feet of screen at the antenna base. My reasoning is that the radiation that my antenna bounces off the ground hits the ground at a point farther out from the base.  Perhaps longer runs of screen would be helpful, or maybe the 50-foot screen lengths might better be planted at a distance of 50 or so feet AWAY from the antenna base. 73, Charles, W2SH