[Elecraft] Counterpoise vs ground wire ?

[Sandy]

Counterpoise wires  OR  radials are a big help.  They usually work better if 
elevated a foot or so, but this can be a dangerous situation to passers by 
AND operator of the station as well!  Kids will ALWAYS get fouled up in them 
unless you are somewhere that is isolated from the usual inquisitive passer 
by.  Length?  that varies with ground you lay them on, conductivity of the 
soil, many arcane factors!  I used to use at least 3 laid on ground made 
from "loud" striped small guage hookup wire.  The MIL-SPEC stuff that is 
usually white with red/yellow/black tracer stripes.  If you work the "low 
bands" (80/40/30 meters)  placement sometimes get harder than shorter wires 
that can be used for higher bands (20-10 meters).  SOmetimes a 30-40 foot 
long radiator will suffice for general use although I like to use an 85-90 
foot "antenna" for 80/40, and the shorter 30-40 footer for the higher bands. 
Vertical or an "inverted L".  Have been using an MFJ 33' telescopic 
fibreglass mast that is easy to transport and can be erected and lashed with 
bungee to a garden type hand tiller tool that can be easily "planted" in 
ground with no rocks.  Trees, hedges can be used for supports of there is no 
other way to suspend the wire.  A small "L" section tuner can be easily 
constructed with a common dual 365 pf tuning capacitor and a coil wound on 
PVC pipe with make a handy antenna tuner  (required in ALL instances!)   You 
will be surprised at what you can do with QRP and jury rig antennas! 
Nothing beats having several coiled up bundles of hookup wire in various 
lengths (16, 33,  45,  85,  120') for the "radials" or the radiators.  Some 
of the "Buddy pole" setups seem to work well sometimes not!  For the most 
part  I've found them to be more of a bother to erect and use and work no 
better than the right length radiator and counterpoise system at a fraction 
of the price of a BUddypole.  No two locations are the same, so it is VERY 
difficult to describe what will work and what doesn't.
I have worked DX like mad on 20 meters around midnight when the band is open 
with 5 watts QRP in a wood frame house with a 20' length of hookup wire 
hanging from push pin tacks at the junction of ceiling and wall. 
Counterpoise in this case, a wire running around the baseboard of the room. 
The "key" is trying it and you will find out what does and what doesn't 
work.  I have had some very good results from the Elecraft T1 mini auto 
tuner working with my K1.  The T1 has a MUCH greater matching range than the 
internal KAT1 tuner by the way!

Long and short  of it is I always use "some" kind of counterpoise/radial 
system, even if only one wire.  Always use an "end fed" radiator that goes 
right to the "hot" terminal of the tuner output.  No coax, no twinlead which 
is an awful liability mechanically to work with.  Small light coax can have 
awful losses on an untuned dipole which can be a disaster when you are 
playing with 5 watts or less.  Keep it light, keep it simple and EXPERIMENT. 
NO two setups are the same!

73,

Sandy W5TVW
Used to use HW-7, HW-8, HW-9 portable, Ten Tec "PM" series DC rigs, Tec Tec 
Argonaut, homebrewed stuff.  My favorite still is the Elecraft K1!

-----Original Message----- 
From: Ronald Nutter
Sent: Sunday, July 01, 2012 1:49 PM
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Elecraft] Counterpoise vs ground wire ?

I am putting together a portable QRP kit that I can fly on a plane with
me.  Looking at several different antennas.  With being a portable
operation, what has worked best for some of you to ground the radio ?  I
am seeing references to some of the antennas that they need a
counterpoise wire.  Is this in addition to a ground wire ?

Ron
KA4KYI
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