[Lowfer] FCC Comments on antenna length!

[John Davis]

>Are ground radials part of the equation, too? It would appear so, the
>equation seems to be "add up all the wire you use and the linear footage
>must be less than X meters.


The rules state ground "connection" rather than "ground system," a
non-trivial distinction, so I don't think anyone has need to worry there.
If you ground to a rod, or the city water pipes, or a buried radial system,
it's all a ground.  Your connection from the Part 15 device _to_ that ground
is part of your antenna length.

(As for elevated radials...that may well be a different matter!)

All they've really done here is tell us that the simplest, direct
interpretation of length is the one they go by.  It is basically the same as
the older traditional linear-measure-of-current-path-above-ground
interpretations, except now each physical element in the top hat counts
separately.

Sorry, loopers and oversize tophatters, but I do seem to recall prior
mention that the Ken Cornell "imaginary cylinder of X meters length and
diameter" concept HAD been put before the Commission in formal rulemaking in
times past, and was explicitly rejected.