[TowerTalk] elevated short vertical dipole or quarterwavemonopole?

[Tom Rauch]

> I have difficulty in understanding or accepting the notion
of "ground
> losses--...wasted power heating the earth, etc..."
> I have no problem with using a dc, ac, or rf resistance
meter to measure
> between two earth points, but radio waves striking the
earth, I dunno!
> What follows is what is puzzling; maybe someone can help
answer them.

Well, anytime an EM wave is reflected or absorbed there are
charges moving in the media. The same is true for
time-varying electric and magnetic fields, not just EM
radiation. You don't need an electrical connection to earth
to make charges move.

When charges move in a lossy media it converts useful energy
into useless heat.

If that didn't happen, signals would be much stronger at
long distances and low antennas would be a whole lot more
efficient.

73 Tom