Topband: Elevated Radials

[W3HKK at roadrunner.com]

Moved onto 3 rural acres about 14 yrs ago. Only had one (15') tree on
the whole property, AND I had sold my yagis and tower about five years
earlier. So I went with monoband GPs on 40-30-20-17-10.
All were 9-10 ft above ground and used 4 elevated radials.

I borrowed a used 4BTV, set it up with the included 24 radials on the
ground. Comparing it to my 20m GP showed the monoband GP to be 0.5-1.0
S-units better. So I convinced myself the 4 elevated #14 solid copper,
pvc jacketed radials were worth it.

A few years later I expanded the 40m and 20m GPs into 2 el phased
arrays, and the nice 3dB gain punches into Asia quite well. Plus the
fat forward and rear lobes give me about 300 degree useful coverage,
with a couple of nulls in between.

The only deer damage Ive had is to my SAL30 RX antenna which I only
put up 3-4 ft above grade.
(should have put it up 8 ft.). 

Elevated radials work very well indeed. 

OTOH, my 160/80m INV-L's share a common 26 radials that I roll up for
mowing season, and uncoil onto the ground for winter. 

PS Built a home brew Moxon for 10m last year and it is a good notch or
two above a single GP. 
Added a 3 el vert (Bobtail curtain) for 12 which is working well but
not at a Moxon level. Worked Bouvet with my 30m GP, and Bhutan the
year before. so the elevated radials are bringing in the rare ones. 

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Sent: Friday January 5 2024 12:00:43PM
Subject: Topband Digest, Vol 253, Issue 7

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 Today's Topics:

 1. Re: Using 4 - 6 elevated radials in lieu of 120 buried wires (Joe)

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------

 Message: 1
 Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2024 10:08:26 -0600
 From: Joe 
 To: Wes Stewart , "topband at contesting.com"
 , Jeff Blaine 
 Subject: Re: Topband: Using 4 - 6 elevated radials in lieu of 120
 buried wires
 Message-ID: 
 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed

 I guess this list doesn't pass images sorry.

 Joe WB9SBD

 On 1/5/2024 9:55 AM, Joe wrote:
 > I beg to differ on the High Maintenance possibility.
 > I live in Southwest Wisconsin the Deer hunting capital of maybe the
 > world.
 > There are deer in my yard every day.
 > We have wind storms,
 > We have Ice storms, Bad ones like take down professional broadcast
 > tower Ice storms.
 >
 > Yet my 40 meter 1/4 wave vertical has been up for 20+ years.
 > The base is up 10 feet,
 > The radials act as sloping guy wires. the ends only 2 feet above
the
 > ground. So prime Deer attack prey.
 > ?It has yet to have issues from Deer or weather,
 > View from base looking up.
 >
 > And view? during a 60 Mph+ storm.
 >
 >
 > Joe WB9SBD
 >
 > On 1/5/2024 9:38 AM, Wes Stewart via Topband wrote:
 >> ? Not me.? My radials are all on the ground and they are all
 >> appropriately shortened.
 >>
 >> ???? On Friday, January 5, 2024 at 08:05:47 AM MST, Jeff
 >> Blaine? wrote:
 >> ? ? There is another practical issue here.? I would agree that
elevated
 >> radials can work great.? But in practice, MAINTENANCE of the
elevated
 >> radials is a non-ending headache.? Around here we have deer and
ice and
 >> wind and on and on.? I ran various 40m 4SQ elevated radial schemes
for
 >> years and eventually went to an in-ground installation because I
was
 >> tired of the hassle.
 >>
 >> You are probably a far better mechanical and electrical hand than
I am.
 >> But this maintenance aspect of elevated radials is something I
don't
 >> think gets enough mention.
 >>
 >> 73/jeff/ac0c
 >> alpha-charlie-zero-charlie
 >> www.ac0c.com
 >>
 >> On 1/5/2024 8:42 AM, Wes Stewart via Topband wrote:
 >>> I was about to recommend Rudy's work. He is a prolific
experimenter
 >>> and writer; reading his stuff will answer almost anything you
ever
 >>> what to know about vertical antennas, ground systems and
receiving
 >>> antennas.
 >>> I have a folder on my hard drive with 30-40 of his papers.
 >>>
 >>>
 >>>
 >>> ?? ? On Friday, January 5, 2024 at 01:03:55 AM MST, Jim
 >>> Brown? wrote:
 >>>
 >>>
 >>> Some thoughts about that particular installation and why it
worked
 >>> well,
 >>> based on my study of Rudy Severns' excellent work on the topic.
 >> ?? _________________
 >> Searchable Archives:http://www.contesting.com/_topband? [1] -
Topband
 >> Reflector
 > _________________
 > Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband [2] -
Topband
 > Reflector

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