[Lowfer] Changes in my antennas radiated output

[Mike WE0H]

Roll out the chicken wire on the ground and let the grass grow up 
through it. Or collect as much free wire as you can get and lay down 
more longer radials until the ground is nearly saturated with copper 
wires. The more metal crap you can bury in the yard, the better off you 
will be for radiating a signal with a vertical.

Mike
WE0H



Andy - KU4XR wrote:
> OK; I waited a few days to see what my observations were going to show.
> Here in SE TN. we had a period of very rainy weather, days in a row of
> good ground soaking rain that penetrated the soil and didn't just run off
> as drain water.The soil here is about 1-1/2 inches of good topsoil, then just hard, rocky dirt down around a foot or so, then mixed with slate rock. During the rainy time, I noticed that my Field Strength was
> indicating a higher than had been reading, not phenomenal, but about slightly more than 2 needle widths of FS increase. ( Hey; an increase is an increase !! ), Since I had just recently placed 5-50 foot radials on top of the ground, I attributed the increase possibly to a better natural groundplane ( the wet soil ) and my radials were in contact with that soil.  Now; we are in a period of no rain for days, the soil is drying and beginning to crack open again. And my Antenna output over the past few days has slowly dropped back to where it had been running all summer during the dry times. Curiosity almost has me wanting to put a sprinkler in the yard to keep the ground wet and see if that makes the output come back up. BUT; logic overrides curiosity and says that's a waste of water and money, let nature do its thing, 2 needle widths of increase won't push me into the DX zone.
>
> 73 everyone; Andy - KU4XR