[TowerTalk] Radials vs vertical height

Joe Subich, W4TV w4tv at subich.com
Tue Apr 3 16:32:57 EDT 2007



> Thomas KN4LF Says:
> 
> The higher in elevation that you pull the highest current 
> point above the grounds surface, the lower the capacitive 
> coupling losses are and the fewer radials that you need.

While that may help somewhat, it is not a cure-all.  WWVH had 
to put radial fields under their VERTICAL DIPOLES (bottom ends 
a foot or two above ground) because of the ground losses from 
coupling high e-field end of the dipole - even though the maximum 
current was 1/4 wave in the air.  A "ground plane" with it's base 
1/4 wave height would have been more efficient than the vertical 
dipole without the ground system simply because the high e-field 
would have been much farther away from the "lossy" earth. 

Broadcast towers are generally MORE that 1/4 wave tall - I used 
to have the rules by my desk - the required height approaches 
.64 wave on the high end of the band.  Even electrically "tall" 
towers were required to use the full 120 radial ground system.  

The real benefit of raising the maximum current is to increase 
the total current in the vertical element.  If the maximum 
current is at the ground (or at the junction with the top 
loading), the effective current (or current causing radiation) 
is the integral of half the cosine function from zero to the 
height of the vertical element in degrees.  If the maximum 
current in placed IN THE MIDDLE of the vertical element the 
effective current is the integral of the cosine from -1/2 
the electrical height to + 1/2 the electrical height.  Simple 
calculus will tell you that there is far more radiation in 
the latter case than the former case. 

The "integral of the current" is the principle behind top 
loading in general - you always want the "fat part" of the 
current distribution in the vertical element. 

73, 

   ... Joe, W4TV 
 



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