[TowerTalk] RE: Ground radials- the long and short of it

[Tom Rauch]

>   Tom, if you feel that even in my full size grounded
vertical case the
> feedpoint readings don't tell the story, I am inclined to
believe you.  But
> then what is a practical way for us weekend hackers to
measure field
> strength in a way that translates to real performance
improvements globally?

I've seen efficiency disagreements between base impedance
and FS results whether the antenna was a tall tower or a
short whip, so I just don't bother worrying. What I do
Dudley, given all the variations and difficulties, is just
throw in as many evenly distributed radials as I can that
are 1/4 wl long (or as long as I can manage) and not worry
about it. I'd much rather put antennas up than do tedious
measurements or carefully optimize things based on what
amounts to a guess, and I certainly don't care if I waste
$10 worth of wire out of a $1000 project.

The bottom line is you can make a real project out of it and
maybe gain a couple percent, but once you are past 20 or 30
radials 25 feet long on 40, 50 feet long on 80, or 100 feet
long on 160 the curve gets pretty darned flat.

73 Tom