[Elecraft] Vertical antennas Was: KX3 and KPA1500 compatibility

[jerry]

I too have a 6BTV.  It used to have 50 radials.  They were a pain in the 
whatchum, always getting caught by the weed whacker.  But
they made a big difference in the performance of the antenna.

Now, it has one "radial".  Actually an Ufer ground, consisting of a 
concrete slab, 70 feet long by 10 feet wide, with 80 feet
of 8AWG copper wire buried in it.  The slab is actually a solar 
collection field for our swimming pool.   I left a space in the middle 
for the antenna.  I was going to do radials, but had a sudden thought - 
I'd be a fool if I didn't bury some wire in that concrete.  So I ran to 
the local hardware store, grabbed a roll of 8AWG off their rack, and 
strung it around the site, hooking it up to the rebars.  Then they came 
and poured the concrete.

   The Ufer ground seems to perform about as well as the radials did.  If 
it didn't, I would have run radials....

                   - Jerry, KF6VB

\
On 2023-03-06 14:59, Alan Bloom wrote:
> On 3/6/23 15:08, Jim Brown wrote:
>> Most (but not all) verticals need radials to transmit a decent signal. 
>> A vertical that needs radials is a lousy TX antenna without them.
> 
> Right.
> 
> I use a 6BTV, which is a 6-band trap vertical about 24 ft tall. With a
> barefoot K4 at 100W I get out quite well.  Obviously I can't compete
> with the "big guns" running kilowatt amplifiers and beams at 120 feet,
> but I do work lots of DX.  I can crack most pileups with enough
> patience.
> 
> The trick is that the antenna has 40 radials, each one 32 ft long
> buried an inch or two in the sand at my desert location.
> 
> The old joke that a vertical is an antenna that radiates equally
> poorly in all directions is only true if you have a poor radial
> system.
> 
> Alan N1AL
> 
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