[TowerTalk] Radials and Non-Vertical Antennas

[Jim Lux]

In the limit, it would be like improving the conductivity of the ground
underneath the antenna to the point where it's over a perfectly conducting
surface.  Whether this is good or bad kind of depends on the antenna.  If
your horizontal dipole happened to be 1/4 wavelength above the ground,
you've just made a dandy directive antenna pointing straight up.

Hmmm. it might be that even though you'd probably tend to move the directive
pattern higher in the sky (assuming a lowish antenna), you might actually
come out ahead, because of the lower ground losses.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Nat Heatwole" <nat at ajheatwole.com>
To: <towertalk at contesting.com>
Sent: Friday, July 02, 2004 3:52 PM
Subject: [TowerTalk] Radials and Non-Vertical Antennas


> I've heard that it often helps the performance of slopers, "Cloud
> Warmer" dipoles, and low Yagis if one puts radials under the tower (or
> whatever they happen to be mounted on). Is this actually true, and if
> so, how much can this improve the performance of the antennas? Also, is
> there any "science" to putting down such radials, or is it basically
> just "lay them down somewhere"? And finally, should they be electrically
> connected to anything, or just physically strung around the tower?