[TowerTalk] Raised Radial Spacing

[Jack Brindle]

One very pertinent thing that has not been mentioned is N6BT’s development of Vertical Open Ring (VOR) antennas. In this design the “ground wire” is actually a 1/4 wave ring that wraps around the base of the antenna. The vertical is up off the ground some distance (less than 1/4 wave, perhaps 1/8 wave). The antenna is described in the latest (4th) edition of Tom’s book “Array of Light”.  He has spoken of it in quite a few presentations that are now available on Youtube, including an NCCC meeting earlier this year. Definitely worth a view.

It is also interesting that the November issue of QST shows an antenna of this design, by G4UNA. Either the author re-invented Tom’s work, or failed to give him credit, but this article also demonstrates the VOR concept. Essentially the radial consists of a 1/4 wave piece of wire that extends out from the base at an angle, then forms a partial square around the antenna. The wire is terminated before it touches itself, thus the square is not completed. In Tom’s experiments he showed that the wire might make up only three sides of the square and perform just as well as if it extends on the fourth side.

By the way, his book is also a gold mine for ideas about raised radial verticals. They perform incredibly well at the beach - he still holds several QRP records from the Caribbean for QRP contests using these antennas. Contemporary reports show that the gull-wing style of radials perform very well.

This topic is very well discussed in ON4UN’s “Low Band DXing” and slightly lesser so in the latest ARRL Antenna Book.

Sounds like some experimentation may be in store to see what works best for the OP.

73,
Jack, W6FB


> On Oct 24, 2025, at 6:03 PM, Dale Dean <browndog2344 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I have a SteppIR BigIR vertical that I am refurbishing.  It will be installed in a small backyard that does not allow for the normal ground radial system (such as 60 ea at 33').  I will need to go to 2 ea tuned elevated radials for each band (80 thru 10 - 8 bands).  My solution (I think the only one I have due to lot restrictions) is to run the radials along the vinyl fence.  The vertical is mounted on a 4x4 post at 5 feet above the ground.  One direction has about 70' of length (straight) but the other direction has a 90-degree turn about 20 feet down from the antenna and then a straight shot the rest of the lengths so the radials for 80, 40, and 30 will have a 90-degree bend at that point and then continue on straight.  All the radials will follow the fence line so they will not be spaced out is a circular distribution from the antenna.  There will be about 1 to 2 feet of horizonal spacing in the plane for 4 bands (80, 40, 30 and 20).  I will do a similar install for the 17, 15, 12
>  and 10m bands but will have them be 1 to 2 feet down vertically from the 1st set of radials.  Hopefully, this is clear and not confusing - I do not think I am able to post a diagram of what I want to try.
> 
> Couple of questions:
> 
> Will this work?
> 
> What is the minimum spacing horizontally and vertically for the radials as proposed?
> 
> Any other suggestions?
> 
> Thanks,
> Dale
> AF7WH
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