> Do you think that radials --either elevated or laying on the ground-- > radiate? Or does all of the radiation come from the vertical monopole > under > the radial system?
There is no question radials radiate, and it is impossible to stop them from radiating or coupling to things around them, at least in the near field. If they didn't radiate or couple, they couldn't do anything. :-) > There is a recent thread about this on the antennex.com Antenna-discussion > forum, which I originated. I tend to believe that while there is a local > field around the radials, it does not go far. The far-field radiation only > comes from the vertical portion. There are three "fields" at work. Electromagnetic, which is a weak force but unless cancelled goes on through space forever. Electric and magnetic induction fields, which are rapidly decaying fields involved in local energy storage and distribution. The question is really all about proportions. Nothing cancels the EM field from a single radial except earth reflection. Two radials can pretty much cancel in the farfield, but not perfectly. Model a freespace groundplane with two perfectly balanced radials. You will see the pattern distortion caused by radial radiation. Near earth, there is an "image" that helps cancel radiation, but it isn't perfect. If it was perfect our Beverages would not work as Beverages. If the image was missing our ewe and flag antennas would not work nearly as well. We have to watch making things black and white. 73 Tom _______________________________________________ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK