[Lowfer] Frozen trees ??

[rick kirby]

Hi All,

As some of you know, this is my first season using  a vertical antenna at
PBO. I have terrible soil and many trees at my QTH  so I have used a loop in
the past . Since I  have such lousy soil, I have opted to use no ground
rods and currently have 60 radials( roughly 2000' of wire) . My loading coil
is very low loss and has plenty of inductance to resonate my vertical. II
still get very low antenna current but I really feel the proximity  of trees
is the reason. Within a 240 degree radius of the vertical, there are trees
25 to 40 feet away. 

 Now I know with a vertical that has a semi-efficient ground system, most
people notice decreased antenna current when the ground freezes or is wet .
My radials have been buried under snow for 2 weeks . The temperatures here
have been in the teens to mid 20s up until 2 days ago . During that time , I
noticed an INCREASE  in antenna current and my signal was copied  almost 500
miles away.The past 2 days the temps have hit 40 degrees and I noticed a
DECREASE in antenna current. The snow is still there so nothing should have
changed as far as my radial system goes.

Here is the question. could it be that the trees aren't as conductive ( sap
frozen maybe?) when the temps are real low and they don't  absorb as much
current from my antenna ? I know it sounds a little strange but its all I
can come up with. Everything I have read tells me I should lose current when
temps are freezing but I don't think my ground is a factor.

 

73 and Thanks

Rick   KA2PBO