Wes, Thank you for the references! 73, Bill K9YEQ
-----Original Message----- It is really unfortunate that advice like this continues to be...excuse the pun...propagated on forums such as this, when there is so much published information to the contrary freely available on the Internet and/or in books in your local library. I have already quoted one source but I'll do it again for emphasis. (Hopefully, the formatting will survive) Devoldere in "Low-Band DXing", Chapter 9 says: 4.3. The Radial System for a Half-Wave Vertical Here comes another surprise. A terrible misconception about voltage-fed verticals is that they do not require either a good ground or an extensive radial system. 4.3.1. The Near Field If you measure the current going into the ground at the base of a λ/2 vertical, the current will be very low (theoretically zero). With λ/4 and shorter verticals, the current in the radials increases in value as you get closer to the base of the vertical. That’s why, for a given amount of radial wire, it is better to use many short radials than just a few long ones. With voltage-fed antennas, however, the earth current will increase as you move away from the vertical. Brown (Ref 7997) calculated that the highest current density exists at approximately 0.35 λ from the base of the voltage-fed λ/2 vertical. Therefore it is even more important to have a good radial system with a voltage-fed antenna such as the voltage-fed T or a λ/2 vertical. These verticals require longer radials to do their job efficiently compared to current-fed verticals. Another invaluable source is Rudy Severns, http://www.antennasbyn6lf.com/ Rudy's work is meticulously measured, beautifully documented and presented. He has written many articles for QEX, which are available on his site or via an Internet search. Wes N7WS On 2/12/2017 5:17 AM, Guy Olinger K2AV wrote: > .... > > So it is that over the years, especially on 80m, many have shown up on > the air with amazingly inefficient antennas on 80m. They would check > into 80m traffic nets with really puny signals. Many of these weak > signals were excellently solved by going to an end-fed halfwave L fed > with a matching network (usually a tapped coil in parallel with a > capacitor) against some horrible ground. Grounds like a couple of > buried bare wires running away from a basement window, or even a > ground rod, did not matter in series with the end-feds' feed Z's in the 1000, > 2000 ohm range and up. ______________________________________________________________ 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 Message delivered to k9...@live.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 Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com