Thanks, Rick. My particular circumstances limit me to a small triangle of ground in the corner of a field and the FCP suits that very well. It would be interesting to know how the FCP compares to something well known, like a broadcast station ground.
I like the idea of the spiral counterpoise: I experimented with a one turn counterpoise in EZNEC at 3 m above ground level. It looked workable but too big for my space, so, I could make that into a spiral and perhaps not be too concerned about symmetry. However, looking to Guy's idea of stacking the wires vertically so they shade the ground underneath might be worth a try. Compressing things always seems to limit bandwidth, so, that's something to be wary of. David G3UNA > On 09 January 2022 at 16:22 "Richard (Rick) Karlquist" > <rich...@karlquist.com> wrote: > > > > On 1/9/2022 4:51 AM, CUTTER DAVID via Topband wrote: > > Hi Rob > > > > I see copper prices have doubled in the last year. > > > > My intention is to compare and contrast the cost and performance of short > > verticals over a large field of ground radials v the very modest amount of > > wire required for the FCP. In Guy's article > > > > This is a false dichotomy between FCP and a broadcast station ground > screen. The best use of wire is to have a small number of elevated > tuned radials with proper RF choking. As shown by N6LF, you can do well > with just 8 radials, about 100 feet long each. On 160 meters, they > should be 20 feet high for optimum performance. BTW, cheap aluminum > electric fence wire works perfectly for elevated radials Also consider > N6BT's single spiral radial configuration as an alternative to FCP. > > Rick N6RK _________________ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector