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Re: [TowerTalk] 1/4 wave vertical with counterpoise

To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] 1/4 wave vertical with counterpoise
From: David Gilbert <ab7echo@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 17 Jan 2026 15:17:04 -0700
List-post: <mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>

As a system it's the same electrically, but physically and individually I think it's a bit different.  A bent leg of a dipole has not very much distributed capacitance and a considerable distributed inductance, all of which it gets by being a wire.  A mesh counterpoise isn't bent at all ... it can be thought of as a greatly expanded wire (think mushroom-shaped) with not much inductance and a lot of capacitance.

Anyway, as I've tried to say here several times ... all of these configurations (radials, mesh, EVEN THE EARTH if you don't bypass it) are basically counterpoises.  They just have different physical and parameter tradeoffs.

Dave  AB7E



On 1/17/2026 2:53 PM, Steve Dyer W1SRD via TowerTalk wrote:
Isn't a quarter wave vertical with a counterpoise just a bent dipole?
Remember the CrankIR?
73,
Steve
W1SRD

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