[Lowfer] Could my antenna be a very large Dummy Load ? - LongReading

[Michael Sapp]

Andy:  If you have a municipal water line that is metallic, use that as the 
ground.  Ex lowfer GIR told me once his lowfer station never got out well

until he made a connection to his water main....

No water main here (well) and I had AC service noise problems until I put a 
robust ground system of 3/4 inch copper water pipe, 4 inch wide copper 
flashing, and multiple ground rods at
the bottom of a French drain trench I dug about 2 feet away from the east 
wall of my home from front to rear and 2 feet deep.  That fixed a 
hydrostatic ground water problem in my basement and the moisture in the 
trench helps improve the ground resistance for the copper at the bottom of 
the trench.  My house roof had a 2ft eave overhang and the original AC main 
ground rods were too close to the foundation so the ground close to the 
foundation never saw any rain water except for the occasional deluge.  Yes 
it was a PIA but likely the best $$ and time payoff for my amateur radio 
station.

After the new ground was installed, I was able to locate several conduit 
boxes and other ground connections in my home that were oxide diode 
junctions.  I cleaned them and used stainless washers and hardware for the 
ground wire connections so that the copper wire did not directly contact the 
galvanized conduit box metal. Each time I cleaned and replaced a suspect 
ground connection with stainless hardware, AC service noise went down.

I also suspect the lower ground resistance for my AC mains ground is 
lowering the noise from the other (very) nearby houses on the same AC mains 
pole transformer.


Also, watch all 4 of the the SM5BSZ "Sensors" videos on YouTube and absorb 
everything you can in those videos. Those videos are like a complete

course in LF electromagnetics without the math. K8RZ turned me onto them 
although I recall stumbling across them Ytube surfing but not watching them 
intently at first.

Don't expect to absorb everything he covers at once. Go back to his Sensors 
vids a few times over weeks or months and you may develop a better 
understanding of the material he covers.

Very much worth the views vs. whatever is available on network TV these 
days...

BTW you do hear REALLY WELL well on 630 and 1750m bands...

73, Mike wa3tts


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Andy - KU4XR via Lowfer" <lowfer at mailman.qth.net>
To: "600 meter group" <600mrg at w7ekb.com>; "1750 Meter lowfer list" 
<lowfer at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, October 12, 2017 12:56 PM
Subject: [Lowfer] Could my antenna be a very large Dummy Load ? - 
LongReading


> Greetings Gents:
>
> I am beginning to wonder if I am approaching a Giant " Dummy-Load " with 
> my antenna. I have 4 top load wires,
> ranging from 100 feet to just over 200 feet. 2 of the top wires have a 
> termination wire connected between them.
> I estimate that I have close to 600 feet of - close to the earth ( 25' 
> AGL ) Horizontal wire in the air, and just
> purchased another 750 feet, with the expectation of adding more top wires, 
> and termination wire where possible.
> I will never have a Ground Radial system that will amount to anything, so 
> nothing but mother earth underneath.....