Topband: [bevantennas] Ground screen under beverage....

[Mike Waters]

Gentlemen,

I am in full agreement with the many statements that Vic Misek's design (at
least in the first edition of his book) is, uh, 'not the best', and a
ground screen (or grounded wire) under a Beverage is 'mostly' *not* a good
idea. Over 40 years ago I was going to built it, but W8JI himself told me
in uncertain terms that it wasn't near as good as a 1λ Beverage (or
something to that effect. ;-)

However, in recent years it occurred to me that a wire or narrow ground
screen under a Beverage *might* not completely ruin its usefulness in all
types of soil, because the Beverage still "sees" the lossy earth on either
side of it to some(?) extent.
This is merely an untested theory of mine, and I have no idea whether there
is any case to be made for it.
*Most of all*, I know of no one who has performed technically-sound,
side-by-side instantaneous A-B F-B, RDF, etc. comparisons. I think this
might be what Jay is thinking about.

I also have heard that Vik has posted revisions to his design in newer
editions. But I am not qualified to say if they are better or not. An
advanced NEC 4.2 model would be better than nothing

Also, Vik's design *might* not be working as a true Beverage, but rather
something along the line of the many different compact receive antennas.
(The K9AY and Shared Apex array are all that come to mind, but I'm not
saying that there are any similarities to either of these.)

Much has been written by Beverage experts in the Topband reflector
searchable archives about this.
http://lists.contesting.com/archives//html/topband/
We would do well to study them.

73, Mike
W0BTU
https://web.archive.org/web/20181115070846/http://www.w0btu.com/Beverage_antennas.html


On Thu, Oct 1, 2020, 3:41 PM Jay <jay at jasonh.com> wrote:

> ….But my Beverage is 4 feet above the ground. In the new configuration, it
> will be 6 feet above ground.
>
> Would a ground screen benefit a Beverage antenna that is 6 feet above
> ground?
>
> *From:* bevantennas at groups.io <bevantennas at groups.io> * On Behalf Of *Walter
> Salmaniw via groups.io
> *Sent:* Thursday, October 1, 2020 4:14 PM
> *To:* bevantennas at groups.io
> *Subject:* Re: [bevantennas] Ground screen under beverage....
>
>
>
> I can add my $0.02 as well.  I run BoGs in Masset, with lengths up to
> 750'.  I've tried counterpoises as well.  The wire lays on essentially
> sand.  I have not noticed any value to having multiple counter-poises in my
> experimentation.  I've tried 2 types:  1 is a single wire upto 100' in
> length, and the other experiment was a fan of counterpoises of about 30'
> each.  Didn't do much of anything, best I could tell....73,  Walt
>
>
>
> On Thu, Oct 1, 2020 at 8:08 AM <nhp at ieee.org> wrote:
>
> Hello Jay,
>
> It seems to me that there was some disagreement with Misek's idea of using
> a counterpoise under a Beverage antenna, based on the principle that the
> Beverage antenna works best with a poor ground underneath it.  Effectively
> improving ground conductivity under the wire seems counterintuitive.
>
> I probably have some notes in old file folders on such experiments that
> were done back in the 1970s and 1980s by hobbyists, and I'm sure that I've
> tried at least a wire counterpoise myself, but that it didn't seem  to be
> worth the extra trouble. Otherwise I'm sure that I would have continued
> using it in my DXpeditioning days.
>
> The medium wave club, IRCA (ircaonline.org), has a number of reprints,
> including some on Beverage antennas, and hobbyist experience with them. The
> club is presently in the process of making those available to the general
> public, so keep an eye on their website.   It should happen in the next
> month or so.
>
> best wishes,
>
> Nick
>
>
>
> At 04:01 2020-10-01, Jay wrote:
>
> Hello all,
>
> I currently run a 320 foot long beverage using the DX Engineering balun
> and resistor. Both ends are grounded with an 8 foot ground rod. I am
> getting good results, but I want to improve the antenna. I was reading "The
> Beverage Antenna Handbook" by Victor A. Misek, P.E. W1WCR, and he talks
> quite a bit about ground. What I want to do is lay a ground screen
> underneath my beverage- (1x2 inch by 6 ft wide) welded wire. I will connect
> the ground at both ends of the antenna to this ground screen. Additionally,
> I am using plastic fence posts from Tractor supply to hold up the antenna
> currently. (4ft high) the bottom 6 inches is metal. What I want to do, is
> pound an 8 ft ground rod in, and connect that to the ground screen every 10
> feet or so, and then leave 2 feet or so of the ground rod exposed. That
> way, I can use a hose clamp, and attach the fence post to it, for a more
> permenant installation.
>
> Have any of you tried using a ground screen underneath your beverage to
> improve the directivity, and lower the noise floor of your antenna?
>
> I would love to hear comments on this idea.
>
> '73,
>
> Jay
>
> Nick Hall-Patch
> Victoria, BC
> Canada
>
> _._,_._,_
> ------------------------------
>
>