[TowerTalk] 80 meter antenna - Radials

[Tod Olson]

For those who can get a copy of QEX to read, check out the very extensive
writeup on radials in the recent edition. Much better to read through that
several times than to try to understand things by getting fragments in
multiple emails on this reflector. Unless you are "extraordinary" you will
not grasp all of the content and implications in a single read.

Tod, K0TO



>Several comments about radials. First, when there are only a few
>radials, they are de-tuned by proximity to earth, so it's good to tune
>them to length by measuring pairs of them as a dipole and shortening
>them as needed to hit resonance.  Second, study K2AV's work on a Folded
>Counterpoise, which is a way to use shorter radials on 160M. You should
>be able to scale the recommendations for 80M. Third, when using
>on-ground or buried radials, length is less critical if you use a LOT of
>them. There are excellent recommendations about this in the ARRL
>Handbook.  N6LF's website is also a great resource.  The radial system
>for my 160M vertical consists of about 75 radials that vary in length
>from about 20 ft to about 120 ft, depending mostly on what is in the way
>of making them longer.
>
>73, Jim K9YC
>