[TowerTalk] elevated radials vertical

[Al Williams]

Our club is planning to use an elevated vertical for fd 40 m.  I have been tasked to use EZNEC to determine length of the vertical and radials given a feedpoint 10' above ground.

EZNEC reports good vswr with a 4" alum pipe vertical element 33.1' and radials 32.5' of #22 wire.

However the elevation pattern and gain using real ground shows virtually no difference with 0,2,4, and 8 radials. The source impedance jumps from highly reactive with no radials to 50 ohms mostly resistive using two radials and lowers a bit using 4 and 8 radials.

The pattern and gain being nearly identical no matter how many radials are use (including none) has me wondering if I have something wrong in my model?

All comments appreciated, please.

k7puc