Topband: FCP vs Gull Wing Elevated Radials

[Wes]

Personally, I would and do, avoid a FCP antenna.  W8JI has done some analysis on 
these and I value his insight. 
http://www.w8ji.com/fcp_folded_counterpoise_system.htm There is simply too much 
handwaving going on to suit me.

As to gull wing radials, Rudy Severns has looked at these too: 
https://www.antennasbyn6lf.com/files/antenna_ground_system_experiment_5.pdf 
Rudy's work is a treasure trove and I think I have everything he's written in a 
folder on my hard drive.  Believe me, considering how difficult it is to lay 
radials in my cactus patch, if I thought gull wings would be useful I would have 
used them.  I don't.

Based on these and other resources, personal modeling and experiment and 
physical constraints, I opted for a ground-mounted 55' vertical, Inverted-L fed 
against 18 (so far) 55' insulated, on-the-ground radials.  By serendipity the 
radials are resonant at about 1.85 MHz although that was not a design goal. 
Instead, I chose radial length be the same as the vertical height and I could 
get nine, 55' radials out of a 500' spool of wire with negligible waste.

Wes  N7WS

On 7/25/2019 10:04 AM, Mark K3MSB wrote:
> This kind of goes with the other thread that has morphed into the FCP
> topic, but is a bit different.
>
> With an FCP feeding the INV-L,  the bottom of the INV-L will be at least 10
> feet off the ground.    With my existing trees I can barely get up 50 feet
> from the ground.   So, the INV-L will have 40 feet of vertical radiator.
>
> Using a pair of resonant gull winged radials feeding the INV-L at the
> base,  the vertical part will be 50 feet.
>
>  From what I’ve read,  the FCP is a better solution over a pair of resonant
> gull wing radials,   but I’ve also read that vertical length of an INV-L is
> important.   So there’s a tradeoff to be considered.
>
> Comments?
>
> Due to real estate considerations,  I can put up only 2 one-half wavelength
> resonant radials
>
> Mark K3MSB
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