[TowerTalk] DRIVEN VERSUS PARASITIC

[Dennis OConnor]

 Hmmm, the supposition that driving the array will make up for an inadequate ground system does not stand up to critical thought...  Any 1/4 wave vertical array requires that the ground mirror the other half of the wave front...
 
In fact, there are studies that suggest that parasitic elements in a vertical array suffer less ground losses than driven elements... The suggestion is that the driven element in a parasitic vertical array will benefit from elevated radials whilst the parasitic elements can use ground radials with little penalty...  

In pursuit of that theory my current 160 arrays use an elevated, single, radial for the driven element with a grounded parasitic element... It is either the best or the second best 160 array I have put up... They jury is still out on that...  The best was my 4 element, all elevated array that I used to work VK0 on 160 a few years back, but keeping all those elevated radials running through the woods in the air during a Michigan winter became a never ending chore...  Also, keeping them clear of limbs that caused arcing was another headache... I finally gave up, but probably should have hung in there...

Obviously, I am a parasitic kinda guy... I don't like anything that dumps part of my transmitted power into a dummy load...  Now W8JI, K3LR, ON4UN, and a few others may disagree... 

denny - k8do


		
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