Topband: Problems with inv L on pier over salt water

[Ignacy Misztal]

There was a report from an expedition where the radials in water did not
work well but over water did. Over salt water, one radial (counterpoise) is
enough and more do not add performance.
I used Expert 1.3k with a tuner. The amp turned itself off hundreds of
times over the past few years due to wrong antenna or something going
wrong, with no consequence. The way it should be.

Ignacy, NO9E

On Wed, Jan 8, 2020 at 2:35 PM Rik van Riel <riel at surriel.com> wrote:

> On Wed, 2020-01-08 at 12:01 -0600, Cecil wrote:
> > I’m far from an expert but if you were over salt water I would have
> > placed the counterpoise in the water.
>
> Word of the day: skin depth
>
> Having the counterpoise over the water means the antenna
> current goes through the (copper) counterpoise, of known
> resistance.
>
> Dropping the counterpoise into the water might mean that
> the current will be split between the counterpoise and the
> water, at an unknown (and changing with the waves and tides)
> proportion.
>
> That could be better.
> It could also be worse.
>
> Could it damage the antenna tuner, if it changed
> too quickly? Who knows?
>
> Now what might make some sense is to have a few
> shorter wires come down from the feedpoint and
> into the water, to add additional paths for the
> current, without impeding the path through the
> counterpoise.
>
> I have no idea how much that could help, though.
>
> --
> All Rights Reversed.
>