Topband
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: Topband: I need help proofing an Inverted L model I made please. 40

To: TopBand List <topband@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: Topband: I need help proofing an Inverted L model I made please. 40’ x 143’, four 100’ radials, #14 wire.
From: Mark - N5OT <r-emails@n5ot.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Dec 2020 11:14:30 -0600
List-post: <mailto:topband@contesting.com>
Yeah.  I don't claim to be a radial expert but I do claim to have a lot of experience working other stations on 160 meters.

My buddy W9RE told me on a DXpedition once that he built a dipole laying on the ground and it resonated on 160 when the wires were about 80 feet long.

Ray, with respect (N6VR and I go back a LOOOONG way), I think 80 feet is the "new quarter wave radial" on 160, and frankly the only thing I really think I understand about verticals is, the more wire on the ground, the better, but you can get to a point where adding more is not worth the effort, YMMV etc.

My story for the week is:  I put up yet another temporary 160 vertical for the ARRL 160 last weekend, and only managed 14 radials before it got so dark I thought I better be getting on the air.

I worked 970 QSOs that night, including 5 Europeans, and while I was out there on Saturday adding more radials, I got a text from K5ZD saying I was an alligator, that I was very loud the night before, but couldn't hear him calling me for 10 minutes as he needed Oklahoma.

So I stopped adding radials, I was up to 22 radials at 80' long, and moved on to listening antennas.

Worked maybe 10 Europeans and counted 10 JAs, so I know my signal was getting to those places.

That's really all I know about that.

The vertical is 50 feet tall and has two symmetrical top-load wires that bring the resonant frequency to 1.8 MHz.

73 - Mark N5OT

P.S. Got an email from a guy in South Dakota who worked 376 QSOs (including 4 other countries) using an inverted L that was 20 feet up and the rest horizontal, fed against 20 radials 25' long in his yard.  I love stories like that.


On 12/10/2020 9:52 AM, Wes wrote:
IMHO, for that number, on-the-ground radials do not need to be anywhere near that long.  Personally, I subscribe to the same-length-as-the-vertical guideline.

My inverted-L is 55 feet of vertical tubing plus the horizontal wire.  My insulated, on the ground radials are 55.5 feet (9 radials out of a 500 ft roll of wire). By serendipity, measuring one radial against all of the rest with a VNWA it is resonant at 1.84 MHz.  To be fair, I still have fewer radials than planned (18 vs. 36) in which case, shorter is actually better according to Belrose and Severns (https://www.antennasbyn6lf.com/files/antenna_ground_system_experiment_4.pdf).

Wes  N7WS


On 12/9/2020 7:00 PM, Raymond Benny wrote:
If your vertical is ground mounted you need alot [sic] more. I'd say atleast 36
radials, 135ft long. It will make a big difference in your signal and be
easier to match.

I have over 100 radials but probably an over kill, but I feel I have a good
signal on 160m.

Ray,
N6VR/ W7YA


_________________
Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector

_________________
Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>