On 7/27/2018 11:17 AM, Curt Nixon wrote:
What am I missing Don?
The principles of how antennas work. RF current flows on BOTH the center conductor and shell of that BNC connector. It's a simple series circuit. The wire you CALL the antenna provides only half of that circuit -- a counterpoise, the other half of the antenna, provides a return path. We could, of course, connect it to a ground rod, but that causes the earth, which is a (very) big resistor, to be the return path, so it can burn (much) of the TX power. Far better to use a length of copper wire (a quarter wave is ideal) to carry that return current.
A connection to mother earth is an important part of lightning protection. It does NOT improve the operation of transmitting antennas. It IS important for many receiving antennas.
73, Jim K9YC ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to [email protected]
