Iain, The FCP is a *great* design by Guy, K2AV. It's for Topbanders on a small lot, but it sounds like yours is not as small as some. From what I've read here, whether an FCP will improve your signal over two λ/4 elevated radials at least 10' high is kind of doubtful.
One of my 10' high λ/4 elevated radials was almost straight N, and the other one was bent at crazy angles to the S because the neighbor's fence was too close. 73, Mike www.w0btu.com On Fri, Oct 19, 2018 at 5:01 PM <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Mike, > > Yes that seems to agree with most writings. > > I hope soon to swap the two radials for an FCP to see what all the fuss is > about. See if its so much better as been told. > > I fell in love with TB after a recent trip to V31 when I worked some very > marginal QSO’s with JA, VK and Russia. Quite a sense of achievement as I > watched the greyline sweep across Europe. > > CW only I’m afraid. > > I did have an inverted-L over seawater so my TX was good, my Rx antenna > wasn’t usable. (Local aircon/floodlights) > > 73 Iain > > > > > > > > *From:* Mike Waters <[email protected]> > *Sent:* 19 October 2018 22:21 > *To:* [email protected] > *Cc:* topband <[email protected]> > *Subject:* Re: Topband: Mixed RF grounds > > > > Hello Iain, > > > > You heard correctly! My inverted-L with 2 elevated radial had no ground > rods except on one terminal of a spark-gap lightning arrester. Description > and photos at > > www.w0btu.com/160_meters.html (scroll down). You *must* also have an > effective common-mode feedline choke near the feedpoint. > > > > 73, Mike > > www.w0btu.com > > > > On Fri, Oct 19, 2018, 4:02 PM <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi, > > In my limited garden I can get away with an 17 high inverted-L with 2 very > bent elevated radials and very odd angles. One of them in the farmers > field. > > It has certainly got me out but I have been told if I sick some copper rods > down at the base and connect to the radials (coax shield and radials) this > is not going to be beneficial. > > This seems counter-intuitive. > > Before I get digging (cos I got to try it anyway and take some analyser > readings) can anyone comment on this? > > Iain G4SGX > > _________________ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
