Hi Joel, You've asked "why are elevated radials so important". If a vertical is elevated above ground (perhaps on a post or on a roof) elevated radials are a necessity because in order to use ground mounted radials you would have to run a long length of wire down to the ground mounted radial field. In doing this that wire becomes part of your antenna with an effect on resonant frequency and radiation pattern.
For ground mounted verticals, elevated radials might be desired if the installation is temporary/portable or if laying ground radials is too difficult. The CrankIR is being marketed as a portable antenna so elevated radials are the logical choice. I'm sure once the antenna becomes available we'll read about folks ground mounting the antenna and laying traditional radial fields. And why not. I can see HOA restricted hams laying an invisible radial field in the grass and bringing out the CrankIR for a few hours use while the HOA police are napping. 73, Mike K2MK W4JBB wrote > A lot of talk has been going on about radials on the KX3 Yahoogroups > Reflector, but there is so much FOD on that reflector, I usually delete > most of the messages. Although it may have been mentioned there, I have > probably missed it. > > Other than for portability, why are elevated radials so important? I > have a ground-mounted 6BTV (not my main antenna) in my backyard. I have > four radials for each band and they were all put in with yard staples. > I did this in the Fall after the last grass cutting. By Spring, the > grass had grown over them. Now, several years later, there is at least > one inch of dirt over them. In all honesty, it's only a backup antenna > and probably needs some radials replaced. > > Now, in my situation, there was no way I was going to use elevated > radials. Someone recently posted a link to the SteppIR vertical - the > CrankIR. Looking at the one page from the link, it only mentions > elevated radials. Now, I've never seen a loaded-tower broadcast antenna > with elevated radials either. > > Is the only benefit portability? > > Please, I do not want to also be accused of perpetuating FOD on another > reflector. I'd prefer you reply directly to me. If needed, I'll > summarize and repost. > > Thanks, > Joel - W4JBB -- View this message in context: http://elecraft.365791.n2.nabble.com/OT-Elevated-vs-Buried-Radials-tp7573769p7573774.html Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com. ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
