[UK-CONTEST] 'Remote radials'

[gm4fam at tiscali.co.uk]

Interesting thread Stewart.
Near field is far more important than far field - 100 x 10 ft radials 
will do a far better job than 10 x 100ft ones.
We are plagued by wire-eating rabbits here and earlier this year I put 
up a 1/4 wave vertical for 40m - I measured out 100 x 50ft radials and 
wound 4 at a time round litre size plastic drink bottles.
These were each unwound to about 20ft from the vertical base.
Next I 'acquired' 30 sheets of corrugated roofing panels and laid them 
out over the radials and around the base; these are NOT electrically 
connected.
For contests I unwind the remaining 30ft of each radial to extend 
beyond the boundary of the corrugated sheets; by the time the furry 
critters have realised there is 100 x 30ft of wire available the 
contest is over, the radials have been rolled up and safely covered 
under their solid metal 'home'.
It is difficult to quantify but I can detect little (if any) 
difference in performance between 20ft and fully extended 50ft radials 
- the important thing again to stress is the near field effect.

Good luck.

73 Cris
GM4FAM





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