[Antennas] Chainlink fence as counterpoise...

Tue Aug 24 17:45:46 EDT 2004

Ground plane conductors, if not buried or in contact with the ground, should be an odd 
quarter of a wavelength in radius. Burying, or lying on the ground affects the resonance 
in such a way as to make it difficult to determine. It has been determined in the 
Broadcast industry (MF, AM stations) that a large number of shorter buried radials work 
better than a limited number of longer ones. Several antennas that I engineered for the 
Dept. of Army in the 2 - 3 Mhz band used a mat of copper screen wires for the first 30 
feet or so, with buried radial wires extending beyond that up to 1/4 wavelength overall. 
They seemed to perform very well. But I must add that these were at the water's edge and 
the paths were over ocean water all the way.
Antennas advertised as "no radial" verticals involve more wishful thinking than anything 
else, in my humble opinion:-)
73,
Harvey/W4TG