Yep, do what you can. If they're not very long, the more the better, at
least to a point. I have a friend who runs a scorpion on his mobile on
160 and it shouldn't work, basicly no ground plain, but it does. He
puts out one heck of a mobile signal, even on 160. You never know what
will work. WLhen we lived in Vegas, I helped him put up a random wire,
I forget how long, and his mobile still ran circles around it. Go
figure..
73
Butch
WA0VJR
Node 3148
Wallace, ks.
On Wed, 2 Jul 2014, Steve Forst wrote:
> Don't want to be nit picky over an obvious typo, but there are some new
> hams trying to get their heads around all this stuff.
>
> 16 feet would be a quarter wave on 20 meters and for 40 meters would be
> in the 33 foot range.
>
> For whatever it's worth, Butternut and maybe some of the other vertical
> builders recommend going a bit longer than quarter wave. 240 / freq in
> mhz instead of the usual 234 / f in mhz.
>
>
> I guess the bottom line is we all just put up what we can, where we can,
> and how we can, then work the world.
>
> 73, Steve KW3A
>
>
>
>
>
> On 7/2/2014 11:24 AM, Dr. Ronald E. Milliman wrote:
>> Colleagues,
>>
>> With respect to a radial system used with a vertical,
>>
>> 1. The length of the radials, ideally, should be a quarter wave length
>> for the lowest band for which the vertical is designed; for example, if the
>> vertical is designed for 40 to 10 meters, the radials, ideally, should be
>> around 16' 3" which is one-quarter wave length for 40 meters
>>
>> 2. The more radials, the better
>>
>> 3. Ideally, the radials should be placed symmetrically around the base
>> of the vertical
>>
>> 4. Insolated wires are less likely to disintegrate as quickly as
>> uninsulated wires
>>
>> 5. At least one ground rod should be driven into the ground at the base
>> of the vertical to which the ground side of the vertical and all radials
>> should be attached
>>
>> 6. In general, larger gage wire is better than smaller gage wire, but
>> even wire as small as 20 gage will work just fine
>>
>> 7. The above are best case scenarios; shorter radials are better than
>> no radials, as few as four radials is better than no radials;
>> non-symmetrical patterned radials is better than no radials, and uninsolated
>> wire radials is better than no radials at all
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>> On Behalf Of Lloyd Rasmussen
>> Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2014 7:44 AM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: Questions about Setting Up Radials
>>
>> The more radials the better. Heavier-gauge wire could be better. Stranded,
>> insulated, should make little difference. How are you going to mow the lawn
>> if the wire is just on the ground? I have heard that if there is good grass
>> growing, the wires will tend to get buried in organic matter, which prevents
>> further damage by lawn mowers.
>> If the antenna is bracketed to the house (I think you said a couple feet
>> outside), this antenna is going to be rather compromised, anyway. It is
>> really impossible to predict the results you will get, good or bad. The
>> radials will probably make the biggest difference on the low bands. I hope
>> you will have the tuner out near the antenna base and not back in the shack.
>>
>> Prepare to do a lot of expeerimentation.
>> 73,
>>
>> Lloyd Rasmussen, W3IUU/4, Orlando, FL (at the NFB convention)
>> http://lras.home.sprynet.com -----Original Message-----
>> From: Richard B McDonald
>> Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2014 8:12 AM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Questions about Setting Up Radials
>>
>> Hi!
>>
>>
>>
>> Soon, I will install a 43' HF (160M - 6M) antenna. I have a few questions
>> about setting up the radials for this antenna, as follows:
>>
>>
>>
>> 1. The manual for the antenna recommends using 18 gauge wire. Would using
>> a larger gauge wire (e.g., 16 gauge( be better? Since my radial system will
>> not be ideal (see below), I wonder if increasing the gauge of the wire might
>> be helpful.
>>
>>
>>
>> 2. Does it matter if the wire is solid copper or braided copper? Is one
>> better than the other? Also, should the wire be a) insulated or b)
>> uninsulated? Does it matter, or is one better than the other?
>>
>>
>>
>> 3. These radials will not be buried in small trenches in the ground.
>> Instead, the end of each radial will be "staked" into the ground, and also
>> likely a few "stakes" along each radial's length. So, regarding the
>> "stakes", is it OK that they are metal? Is it better if these stakes are
>> insulated, similar to the wire? Would plastic or wood stakes be any or much
>> better?
>>
>>
>>
>> I think I will be able to layout about 16 radials. However, not each will
>> be the height of the antenna (maybe half of them will be), their layout will
>> not be symmetrical (like spokes on a wheel) and about 180 degrees radius off
>> of the antenna will not have radials extending outward in this quadrant.
>>
>>
>>
>> Finally, are there any tricks I can employ to improve my radial system? For
>> example, I think I once heard of someone laying down chicken wire around the
>> antenna base. Is something like that beneficial?
>>
>>
>>
>> 73,
>>
>> Richard KK6MRH
>>
>>
>>
>
>
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