Has anyone tried K2AV's folded counterpoise instead of radials - raised or
otherwise?
John
NN1SS
On Tue, Oct 28, 2025 at 10:17 AM <john@kk9a.com> wrote:
> Back when N6BT owned Force12 they manufactured Sigma vertical dipoles. It
> was a sideways H shape fed in the middle and it had handmade wire inductors
> to reduce the length. I always thought that was a pretty good antenna for
> its size and ease of installation.
>
> John KK9A
>
> Jack Brindle W6FB wrote:
>
> One very pertinent thing that has not been mentioned is N6BT's development
> of Vertical Open Ring (VOR) antennas. In this design the "ground wire" is
> actually a 1/4 wave ring that wraps around the base of the antenna. The
> vertical is up off the ground some distance (less than 1/4 wave, perhaps
> 1/8
> wave). The antenna is described in the latest (4th) edition of Tom's book
> "Array of Light". He has spoken of it in quite a few presentations that
> are
> now available on Youtube, including an NCCC meeting earlier this year.
> Definitely worth a view.
>
> It is also interesting that the November issue of QST shows an antenna of
> this design, by G4UNA. Either the author re-invented Tom's work, or failed
> to give him credit, but this article also demonstrates the VOR concept.
> Essentially the radial consists of a 1/4 wave piece of wire that extends
> out
> from the base at an angle, then forms a partial square around the antenna.
> The wire is terminated before it touches itself, thus the square is not
> completed. In Tom's experiments he showed that the wire might make up only
> three sides of the square and perform just as well as if it extends on the
> fourth side.
>
> By the way, his book is also a gold mine for ideas about raised radial
> verticals. They perform incredibly well at the beach - he still holds
> several QRP records from the Caribbean for QRP contests using these
> antennas. Contemporary reports show that the gull-wing style of radials
> perform very well.
>
> This topic is very well discussed in ON4UN's "Low Band DXing" and slightly
> lesser so in the latest ARRL Antenna Book.
>
> Sounds like some experimentation may be in store to see what works best for
> the OP.
>
> 73,
> Jack, W6FB
>
>
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