[Antennas] Diminishing Returns - New Question

Sat Jun 13 17:10:12 EDT 2009

David, if they are to be on the ground then you need not worry about the
length. If you want to make them all 40 feet that's fine. If you want to
make them all as long as possible given the space allowed that's fine too.
There is not need for them to all be the same length.
To answer your question as to why verticals are such a PITA, I don't think
they are. We've sort of overacted to your question. If you put 4 radials
on the ground of any reasonable length the antenna will work. If you put
down 120 that are 1/2 wave length long it will work extremely well. To
revert back to your original question, it has been my experience that the
point of diminishing returns is about 60 quarter wavelength radials. I'm
sure that more and longer will work better, but beyond this point I have
never been able to perceive any difference.
Regards, Merv W2OE