> The biggest advantage of a buried dense radial system over an elevated
> one, is that it's buried and you can grow grass on top of it. Up in
> the air gets ice, falls down, and you can see it, etc, etc.
Other problems are with small elevated systems, even at great
height, you need to choke RF off the OUTSIDE of the feedline or
efficiency suffers.
You can NOT have a path to earth for RF, and that means you
can't have a direct connection to earth for lightning. Not a good idea.
Also, no matter how well you "balance" currents, the radials will
radiate quite strongly in the area around the radials. That means
interaction and unwanted coupling.
Small resonant systems are also single band systems, and they
even narrow the antenna bandwidth on the desired band!
All the above, even if we ignore the reduction in efficiency and
mess of wire in the air, is enough that I won't use them!
> In the ground screen you suggest, you need to pay attention to
> "dense". Depending on who you talk to, dense starts somewhere between
> 60 and 120 radials.
RCA spent a fortune on studying this, and they concluded 50-60
1/4 wl radials acted like a solid plate. The key is to not let the open
spaces exceed about .025 wl between wires. That even works with
a screen reflector antenna!
The 120 radial wires comes from the FCC's recommended ground
of 120 1/2 wl radials for BC stations, where they want a LOT of
headroom on the conservative side.
73, Tom W8JI
W8JI@contesting.com
List Sponsored by AN Wireless: AN Wireless handles Rohn tower systems,
Trylon Titan towers, coax, hardline and more. Also check out our self
supporting towers up to 100 feet for under $1500!! http://www.anwireless.com
-----
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/towertalk
Submissions: towertalk@contesting.com
Administrative requests: towertalk-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems: owner-towertalk@contesting.com
|