[TowerTalk] Cage Vertical

[Tom Rauch]

> Wasn't there a study that was posted on TT not long ago
about not hooking
> the radials to a ground rod at the base of the antenna?
>
> Tom W7WHY

You are remembering behavior of a small resonant
counterpoise system with a system using a large number of
radials.

A system with only a few radials (say less than five or ten)
that uses insulated radials has significant voltage at the
radial common point. If there is a path to lossy earth, such
a ground rod or a coaxial lead that is earthed, the
efficiency of the system will drop a bit. I've actually
measured that effect on a few systems. I was amazed to see
FS drop when a ground rod was connected.

The more radials we use the less of a problem this is. With
about 20 radials or so the effect goes away and the radials
can be buried, grounded to ground rods, or insulated from
ground with nearly the same results.

73 Tom