FWIW, I will add that in Minnesota (clay soil) I got decent results with 64
radials of 32 feet on an HF2V. I laid them on the ground and pinned them
to the ground every 10 or 15 feet with the "U" shaped garden stakes you can
find for sale at any garden shop (the kind usually used to pin down various
sorts of matting to stifle weeds). I lost two or three to the mower
without affecting performance. The rest "disappeared" into the top of the
soil and performed well until I had to move. I suspect with a full sized
vertical, I would have had even better results.
In Arizona (very sandy poor soil) am getting very good results (eg. zones
17, 19, 24, and 26 almost at once) with four raised "batwing" style
verticals on a full sized 80 meter vertical. If you go with raised
verticals, tune them to the desired center frequency. This can be done by
cutting one in half, in place, and measuring it as a dipole at double the
desired frequency. Since they are raised and not under stress, you can
repair the cut with any suitable connector. We did not solder ours, just
connected them well. For maximum convenience, ours are raised high enough
that we can walk under them without incident.
YMMV, but that's what I got.
WO7R
On Wed, Nov 30, 2016 at 7:02 PM, jcjacobsen@q.com <jcjacobsen@q.com> wrote:
> Gary K9RX had a question about radial lengths and confusion from reading
> ON4UN Low Band book. If it helps any, I was always of the belief that there
> is a point of diminishing returns. It's better to have more short radials
> than only a few long ones. If I remember correctly, the ARRL antenna book
> has charts on number of radials for a given amount of wire so as to use
> said wire most effectively. It is from an article in June 1985 QST, pgs
> 28-30 by N2MF, Brian Edwards. I settled on 32 radials, approx 32' long
> around a 42' HB vertical for 160/75/40 meters. Antenna works very well.
> Into Europe and Central/South America on all 3 bands. I never run more than
> 500 watts. On 160 that would equal abt 125 wts ERP, and on 75 abt 250 wts
> ERP. On 160 I only miss Hawaii, Alaska, and South Dakota (right next door,
> darn) for WAS. I can usually get 40++ states during the CQ 160 SSB the end
> of February, even barefoot.
> In short (no pun intended) put down as many radials as you can, in the
> space you have. BUT I don't think you need to get to anal about it. After
> all, it IS AMATEUR RADIO we are playing with. Don't beat yourself up over
> it. Read the QST article or look in the handbook and then go at it.
> Good luck with your project. 73 K9WN Jake
>
>
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