[Elecraft] OT- Radials for Vertical Antenna

[Matt Zilmer]

Actually, I don't think we're disagreeing.  But if so, point(s) taken.
I didn't mention that elevated radials shouldn't be used with a ground
mounted vertical (I wouldn't try this either).  Anyway, thanks for the
info about having to tune them.  That part I didn't know.

73,
matt W6NIA

On Tue, 02 Jul 2013 10:04:32 -0500, you wrote:

>I'll have to go on record as disagreeing with Matt, W6NIA's statement below.  
Elevated radials *are* better than buried radials only *if* the
vertical is not ground-mounted and the radials are tuned to resonance
for each band.  
>
>With ground-mounted verticals, the radials need not be tuned and do a 
better job if a large quantity of them are spread out on or below the
ground.  I would not use elevated radials with a ground-mounted
vertical.
>
>Terry W0FM
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Matt Zilmer [mailto:mzilmer at verizon.net] 
>Sent: Monday, July 01, 2013 12:33 PM
>To: Randy Cook
>Cc: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
>Subject: Re: [Elecraft] OT- Radials for Vertical Antenna
>
>Elevated radials are better than buried, but more radials are better than a few or none.  A good minimum number (for each band) would be 8.
>Many studies on this have shown many more than 8 per band (like > 25) is much better and, of course, much harder and expensive to field.
>
>I have a 33' vertical made of heavywall aluminum that has 7 radials for 40m and another 7 for 15m.  It works well enough, but generally I use it as an RX ANT for the K3's sub rx.  In my own case, the radials are buried for aesthetic reasons.  Plus, I don't want to need to duck down when mowing.  There is no ATU at the base of this vertical.
>
>When using this antenna for RMS Winmor (for Navy-Marine Corps MARS) just below 40m, it had no trouble handling all states west of the Mississippi with 150W drive.
>
>I would say that you should do what you can to maximize the radial count, even if it means changing your location plan.
>
>73,
>matt W6NIA
>
>