[Antennas] 1/4 wave vert,

[David Ring]

You're right about that Chris.  It took me a while to put in radials -
they're the most work when you already have a lawn!  Of course,
they're still a bit of work with a lawn, but you just lay them out and
cover with dirt and add grass seed and water well!

When I put out 60 radials of 0.25 wavelength, I got up bright and
early and I heard ZL from the south island near Christchurch on 3.5
MHz - I got a 599 report with 500 watts, and then we went to SSB and I
got a 5/8 report.  (I didn't have a compressor!).

What a difference it made.  I learned though on a favorite band such
as 3.5 MHz that it pays to have two antenna.  A vertical and a low
dipole at 35 feet.  I also like the inverted L for that reason it has
high and low angle radiation.  The T antenna (an inverted L with a
duplicate top section) reduces the high angle radiation from the top
section, so it is a good substitue for a dipole.

The 35 foot high dipole worked the locals loud, up until the midwest
from near Boston and the W4s into FL.  The midwest, southwest,
California, Alaska and Hawaii and further almost always came in 2 S
units stronger on the vertical after I got the radials in.  It never
worked like that before the radials especially on long DX like Perth,
Australia which I worked often.

73

DR .

On Thu, Aug 21, 2008 at 9:43 PM, Chris Boone <cboone at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Just make sure you have a GOOD radial system underneath it...any vertical on
> 80 will not radiate worth a flip without the radials...and broadcast
> stations use 120 1/4wl radials...
> Any antenna, wider is broader bandwidth...a caged vertical wider made of
> wires around the vertical support will have a wider bandwidth as they
> emulate a WIDE pipe :)
> Chris
> WB5ITT
> Society of Broadcast Engineers member
>
>
>