menton@lambda.decnet (LAMBDA::MENTON) (03/22/85)
Due to antenna restrictions, I use an inverted-L wire antenna and load it
on all bands (to 1:1 SWR) with a tuner. The nearly-vertical part of the
inv-L is about 70 ft high, and the nearly-horizontal part is 70ft high and
130 ft long. The "ground plane" (hi hi) under this wire antenna consists
of my station ground: an 8 ft copper-clad rod !! (and, of course, whatever
the earth of my back yard is doing).
I like to work EU and SA on the low end of 40m and 80m, and I'd
LOVE to try working DX on 160m. Also, I want to maintain a sked between
DC and CT, which presently gives S7 sigs (100 watts TX) on 75m.
Questions: if I lay some radials out from the ground rod,
1. How many, and how long, to affect performance?
2. Is it OK to bury plastic-insulated copper wire a few inches
below ground surface as the radials?
3. Will DX improve?
4. If it does, will I be throwing away my DC-to-CT QSO due to a
lower angle of radiation?
Bob Menton KG3J
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