Mike, Don makes a lot of good points in his post. I've played quite a bit with elevated verticals with tuned radials. They radiate well, but I am not sure it is worth the effort and trouble they present. I would suggest that you ground mount the vertical and use radials that do not necessarily have to be a quarter wave. I've seen very little difference between the elevated and the ground mounted vertical...but...with one exception. A gound mounted vertical needs more radials. There is a very large difference in radiation resistance etc...from 8 radials to 16 to 24 to 32. Now, no installation is perfect...but the idea is to radiate a signal. So, do the best you can to get down as many radials as you can...and they do not have to be a quarter wave. I have a 40 meter quarter wave with just 16 radials under it...right on the ground. Works very well. Most of the radials are a quarter wave in length, but to the east they are not because of my placement in my backyard. I have down two radials that are short to the east....and two radials that are quarter wave on 40 meters but are bent at 90 degrees to follow the fence line. In addition you can put down a 8 foot ground rod for even more "grounding" when you are ground mounted. That would help on 80/75 meters as well. There is a lot to be said about this kind of antenna and the literature is out there to read about...so take some time and read about it. I just found it is easier to ground mount verticals and they work the same. Your mileage my vary. Lee - K0WA
In our day and age it seems that Common Sense is in short supply. If you don't have any Common Sense - get some Common Sense and use it. If you can't find any Common Sense, ask for help from somebody who has some Common Sense. Is Common Sense devine? _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
