[600MRG] Could my antenna be a very large Dummy Load ? - Long Reading

[Neil Klagge]

Andy, I think it will radiate fairly well, but with no radials on ground I am not sure. You wont know until you try it.

What is the reason why you cant put down a couple of wires on the ground, even short ones ?? I have 4 radial running thru the crawl space under my house, and out the other side in 4 different directions. It made a big difference. Anything you can lay down close to the base of the vertical will help no matter how short.

Just my experience. Im not an expert at this, but working on it daily, LOL..

Neil
w0yse

Sent from Neil's iPad....
________________________________
From: 600MRG <600mrg-bounces at w7ekb.com> on behalf of Andy - KU4XR <ku4xr at yahoo.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 12, 2017 9:56:15 AM
To: 600 meter group; 1750 Meter lowfer list
Subject: [600MRG] Could my antenna be a very large Dummy Load ? - Long Reading

Greetings Gents:

I am beginning to wonder if I am approaching a Giant " Dummy-Load " with my antenna. I have 4 top load wires,
ranging from 100 feet to just over 200 feet. 2 of the top wires have a termination wire connected between them.
I estimate that I have close to 600 feet of - close to the earth ( 25' AGL ) Horizontal wire in the air, and just
purchased another 750 feet, with the expectation of adding more top wires, and termination wire where possible.
I will never have a Ground Radial system that will amount to anything, so nothing but mother earth underneath
the top load wires. My Vertical height is 30 feet, and I hope to go up to 40 feet. That will be about all I can do.
The next comments are based on watching my S-meter, and listening to background noise and believing that
I am improving the antenna. ( I know the more vertical height, the better, but I am limited ).. Here's what I
have noticed. In the past I had a 160 OCF up 30' AGL - strapped as a " T " antenna. It was as noisy as a nascar
race. The short leg, went across the powerline service entrance - tied off to a tree. Constant powerline buzz.
I decided to tie the center, and shield of the coax together at the dipole, and bend the short leg in another
direction - away from the powerline. Instant reduction in line buzz ! - AND - reduction in received signal
levels also. A previous question on this list informed me that powerline coupling effect is an issue, thus
the loss in received signal strengths when I moved the wire away from the powerline. But not living with
a constant 20 over S-9 line buzz was worth a reduction in signal strength. The S-meter dropped to S-9 after
moving the wire. No noticable change in the needed L  to peak the antenna. I added a 3rd top wire,
and right away saw a difference. After adjusting for Less - L ; the S-meter was resting on S-8. Signals
on 630 meters got better. Later on, I added a 4th top wire. This one unfortunately is running at a heavy
sloping angle and is very close to earth over much of its length. Another instant change ! After adjusting
for less - L ; the S-meter was resting around S-6.5 to S-7. What was the short leg of the OCF was
lengthened to within 3 feet of the pine tree limb it is tied off to, and I connected a termination wire from
it, over to the heavily sloping wire ( 65 feet ). This is what I have in the air at the moment.. After adjusting
for Less - L again, my S-meter is now resting on S-5, and bouncing up to S-6.5 on peaks. I have not been
using a Shunt element until just the past 3 weeks or so. Through experimentation; I added a Shunt - LC on
the radio side of the loading coil and after adjusting; the S-meter rose 1 S-unit on resting noise and now
rests at S-6.5 and bounces to S-7.5 on peaks. The level varies due to neighborhood noise makers, and when
it is " dead quiet " , the S-meter rests at S-5, and bounces to S-6.5, BUT, that is not the norm unfortunately.
Here are my present values - measured as best I can do. (( Starting point was the OCF at 30' AGL, and
260 feet top load... I used 152 microHenries of coil with no shunt element ( my oversight there ). ))
The present setup is 30' AGL Vertical APEX, with very close to 600 feet of top load wire going in 4 directions,
and varying land slopes. My Series " L " is 82 microHenries, and the Shunt LC on the radio end of the coil
is 93 microHenries - L ( Fixed ) , and 1,142 pF - C ( Air Variable ) . Of course, Dryground - Wet ground does
affect the tuning. *** NOW The Big Question for me is: with all the losses over earth - no radials - and
everything else lossy that can be factored in; when I eventually try to put RF into this Monstrosity; will I
possibly be transmitting into a Very Large - Dummy Load ? It Hears, and pretty good in my opinion, but,
that doesn't mean it will radiate RF in the same fashion. My hope is to add 3 more top load wires, and
terminate the ones that can be. I am starting to wonder if this may be an exercise in futility.
Thanks for reading this, and comment if you wish - on the list might be good - for others to benefit from it.

73: Andy - KU4XR Friendsville, TN. - EM75xr

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