Topband: raised radials

Peter Voelpel df3kv at t-online.de
Sat Dec 15 20:49:02 EST 2012


I am very interested in the comparison.
I am almost daily on 40m SSB at about 15:00 for LP with a couple of friends.
The San Diego area is also good for SP a bit later.
RBNs in Europe most of the time will probably not copy you on the LP.
Most RBN use poor antennas and the band is still crowded with European
contacts.

73
Peter, DJ7WW

-----Original Message-----
From: Topband [mailto:topband-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Bob K6UJ
Sent: Samstag, 15. Dezember 2012 20:58
To: Charlie Cunningham
Cc: '160 reflector'
Subject: Re: Topband: raised radials

Charlie,

I will post my results.  I had a vertical dipole up before and now am using
the 40M GP.
The vertical dipole "seems" to be the best performer for DX but what does
that mean, hihi.
I thought I would make a table with short path, long path etc.  and switch
to each antenna using the RBN.
Any suggestions on other comparisons or set up ?  

73,
Bob
K6UJ


On Dec 15, 2012, at 10:25 AM, Charlie Cunningham wrote:

> Well, I haven't done such an elaborate test, Bob! But I'd be extremely 
> interested in seeing  your results! At present my 40 m GP is down 
> because I needed to clear away the radials for some tree work
> 
> I still have parallel 40/30 vertical dipoles center fed through a W2DU 
> style current balun. When I had the 40m GP in place. I could do direct 
> comparisons. I was relying mostly on signal reports  from 9V1YC other 
> Asians and ease of working him and others in south Asia on the evening 
> south polar path on 40m!
> 
> Do let us know about  your results!
> 
> Regards,
> Charlie, K4OTV
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Topband [mailto:topband-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Bob 
> K6UJ
> Sent: Saturday, December 15, 2012 1:50 PM
> To: 160 reflector
> Subject: Re: Topband: raised radials
> 
> I also have a 40M GP with 4 elevated resonant radials 6" above the ground.
> I will be putting up a vertical dipole for 40M center fed with a choke 
> balun for comparison on DX and will  compare with the RBN and see what I
learn.
> Has anyone on the forum tested these two 40M antennas using the 
> reverse beacon network ?
> And if so what were your results ?  
> 
> 73,
> Bob
> K6UJ
> 
> 
> On Dec 15, 2012, at 5:45 AM, Charlie Cunningham wrote:
> 
>> Hi, Tom
>> 
>> Well, I also used a 40m GP with 4 elevated resonant radials about 6' 
>> above ground and I worked an awful  lot of really good DX with it!! I 
>> found it to be about equal to  my half-wave vertical dipole for 40m.
>> (Center fed through a  home-made 1:1 W2DU style current balun)
>> 
>> Charlie, K4OTV
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Topband [mailto:topband-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of 
>> Tom W8JI
>> Sent: Friday, December 14, 2012 2:24 PM
>> To: David Michael Gaytko // WD4KPD; topband at contesting.com
>> Subject: Re: Topband: raised radials
>> 
>>> the more i read, it seems raised radials are a fairly easy way to 
>>> raise the effeciancy of a short vertical.
>> 
>> Only if the original ground system is a meager system with 
>> significant
> loss.
>> 
>> At my QTH on 40 meters, 4 elevated radials at 6 feet above ground 
>> were about equal to 12-15 radials in the earth. That would be like 4 
>> radials 24 feet above earth on 160.
>> 
>> The difference between them was the elevated radials only worked OK 
>> on one or two bands (like 40 and 15), while the buried wires were 
>> reasonably good on 160-10 meters, out of view, and protected for
> lightning.
>> 
>>> i have a hy-gain 18ht with base loading.  can i use these raised 
>>> radials with this antenna, and if so how to do it.  it is impossible 
>>> to raise the whole antenna to get the base off the ground.
>> 
>> Since the antenna is an all band antenna, I don't think I would use a 
>> resonant radial. I'd just bury as many radials as I could as long and 
>> straight as possible, and enjoy all the bands. If you had 10-20 
>> radials 60 feet or more long, it would be tough to make any 
>> improvement on
> lower bands.
>> 
>> If you use a resonant radial system, it really should be ground isolated.

>> That complicates things.
>> 
>> This 10-20 loss thing, at least to me, appears to be based on 
>> anecdotal unconfirmed opinions. Like deer whistles on cars.
>> 
>> 73 Tom
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> Topband reflector - topband at contesting.com
>> 
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> 
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