My thoughts that when this was in use the AM broadcasters needed and
wanted every bit of possible signal. As it was a very competitive market,
any gimmick was tried or used.
In an attempt to mimic broadcast stations, hams have mistakenly
started thinking that this will help.
Sorta like race cars. However, like race cars vs. street cars if your not
going 200mph then you don't really need a 1000 hp engine or a 1/4
ground clearance under the car.
I think we have proved that 60 radials is 90% best and 120 is 98% best, and
since
we don't have corporate race sponsors we don't really need or can afford
that last 2%.
Some things we do need, like the best antenna we can build.
As we all have learned every dollar spent on a antenna equals 5 spent on
a amp. cant hear 'em=cant work 'em but it QRM's people that can.
IMHO
Lee
KE4VYN
>Jim Brown wrote:
>
>
> I generally agree about the "broadcast myth" part -- there was a lot of
> "go for broke" mentality in it. Remember -- in the days where this was
> developed and practiced, AM broadcasting was all there was, and it was
> a very big deal! HOWEVER -- one place ground screens were employed was
> multi-tower directionals, where very small differences between towers
> make a big difference in the depth of nulls, which is the whole point
> of those patterns.
This is an interesting point. One function of the ground screen in this
case would be that it makes the array pattern less sensitive to changes
in the ground conductivity under the radiator. I'd venture that the
average ham isn't going to care much (or even notice) about a few dB
change in a 20=30 dB null. That's the kind of change you might get from
the loss resistance changing a bit (say your radiation resistance is 30
ohms and the loss resistance is 5 ohms. Changing the loss resistance to
6 ohms would change the current in the radiator by 3%, give or take)
This IS a very good reason for using them (and for
> making the radial system as good as practical). This is the direct
> equivalent of a ham 4-square vertical array, and the arrays at K9DX.
> The only important difference is that AM BC arrays were optimized for
> the nulls, and ham arrays are usually optimized for gain. If you want
> the nulls to be wonderful, you need to pay lots of attention to the
> symmetry of everything, including the radial system.
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