[TowerTalk] Feedline (choke) question

[Brian Beezley]

"That's a fallacy.  It simply isn't."

Dave, it would be helpful if you'd supply your reasoning.

In many ways I regard ground as just another conductor. However, unlike 
a wire, it is normally without resonance effects. That's the "current 
sink" aspect. Current will flow from a wire into ground if you make a 
connection. If you're using a ground rod, the impedance at the 
connection depends on the rod length, rod diameter, and the 
characteristics of the soil. If the soil is uniform, reflections don't 
occur, unlike for a wire of finite length. The current dissipates as it 
spreads within the ground, which acts like an infinitely long wire with 
a traveling wave. However, when ground strata are distinct and well 
defined, resonance can occur. An example shown for the stratified ground 
calculator described in the writeup below exhibits strong resonance. A 
water table 200 feet below a desert surface magnifies surface ground 
conductivity by a factor of 10, which is pretty amazing. I think such 
situations are rare because I suspect most variation in ground 
characteristics occurs gradually rather than as distinct strata, which 
is necessary for resonance.

https://k6sti.neocities.org/sg

Brian