Vertical Antennas-Ground Radials



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This is post 2343 in a continuing series of simple ham radio antennas.

In this well-paced, informal discussion of vertical antennas, Callum (M0MCX) examines the number of radial wires needed to make a 1/4 wave vertical more efficient.

When I first went on the air as a "novice" licensee (1977) the general advice was lay "as many radials as possible for each band used." Depending on soil and moisture conditions, you could have anywhere between 4 and 100+ radials to raise the efficiency of the vertical antenna.

Nowadays, the advice is tempered by the use of elevated radials, sophisticated counterpoise systems, and vertical antenna systems requiring few or no radials (1/2 wavelength verticals).

In this video, Callum considers both theoretical and practical aspects of the ongoing radial debate.  Here are some of his observations:

Ground Radials are a thing of "Mystique". I use the formula of using 4-wavelengths of wire in total, cut into random lengths to suit.All my radials are LESS than 1/8th of a wavelength. For 80m, my radials are around 2.4% of the wavelength. My experience and demonstration in a real-world solution will assist our thinking. HEY, Subscribe here: https://goo.gl/thM5Vq My Shop: https://www.m0mcx.co.uk/store/products/ Playlists: DX Commander: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list... My Crazy Vlogs: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list... Ham Radio Foundation Training: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list... Goodies for radio buffs: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list... Software for Radio Guys: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list... Antenna Software Modelling: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list... Ham Radio Tips: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list... PS Sub-Titles help out some folks and non-English speaking people. If you are bi-lingual, you can help the others by contributing your time to closed caption subtitles here: https://www.youtube.com/timedtext_cs_.... Let me know if you've done this and I can give you appropriate credit. Enjoy your science folks. Good luck. Callum. M0MCX. DX Commander Founder
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See what you come up with on your next vertical antenna experiment.

Thanks for joining us today.

Aloha es 73 de Russ (KH6JRM).



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