One-Radial Ground Plane vs Dipole

[Skynet 15]

yes, please make radials down to about 45 ` this will be a big help, and make tunning easer.
You really should come up with a 102 whip, and a spring or nut/bolt combo to combo. so you can tune the 102 whip with ease. (your nut / bolt combo is made up of 1in. long bolts and 1in. long threaded bits) you can add bits to make the whip longer as needed up to 108 long. Good luck and have fun!!!!

Thanks mudddyckmobile you got me convinced gonna give the 102" a shot.

 

[The DB]

If you have the radials at 90 degrees, your impedance is ~30 ohms. If you angle them down to 45 degrees (+/-) your impedance will change to ~50 ohms which will improve your matching and lower your SWR. I would do that first. I doubt your will get acceptable SWR numbers by just using the tuning tip. This would also apply to the 102-108" whip.

yes, please make radials down to about 45 ` this will be a big help, and make tunning easer.
You really should come up with a 102 whip, and a spring or nut/bolt combo to combo. so you can tune the 102 whip with ease. (your nut / bolt combo is made up of 1in. long bolts and 1in. long threaded bits) you can add bits to make the whip longer as needed up to 108 long. Good luck and have fun!!!!

Adding additional points to these comments, the fact that you are using shorter whips in the vertical and ground plane elements instead of full length whips, the antennas feed point impedance will drop even more at resonance than when using full length elements. Angling said radials will definitely help your SWR readings in this situation.

That being said, if the antenna is mounted fairly close to the earth below, that will raise the feed point impedance at resonance. Although this raising of the feed point impedance happens at a cost to the antennas radiation efficiency. In other words, it may be easier to tune the antenna but at the cost of performance.


The DB

 

[tba02]

he fact that you are using shorter whips in the vertical and ground plane elements instead of full length whips, the antennas feed point impedance will drop even more

.. which would explain why I had to enter 22 ohms in the calculator to get it to match the stated SWR.

Thanks DB

 

[Mudduckmobile]

Thanks for al the input everyone, I will try a large whip later on but will be bending the radials today. Maybe do some other tinkering too. I'll be posting the new swr readings later on. Thanks again for all your help and advice.

Thanks for al the input everyone, I will try a large whip later on but will be bending the radials today. Maybe do some other tinkering too. I'll be posting the new swr readings later on. Thanks again for all your help and advice.

Remember if your radials are hollow you should fill them with sand before you bend them so you dont kink them, and wrap the tubes with a spring or towel for support...

 

[Skynet 15]

Remember if your radials are hollow you should fill them with sand before you bend them so you dont kink them, and wrap the tubes with a spring or towel for support...

Thanks again for all help and input guys, I'm gonna hunt down a 102" at noon and bend my radials to 45' later on tonight. And well se what happens on the swr. Also it'll be at 30+ plus ft. The old setup with 9' coat hanger radials was pushing out to 21 miles at low swr its sad that basic setup was getting out like that clearly. Keep yall updated.

 

[Skynet 15]

Remember if your radials are hollow you should fill them with sand before you bend them so you dont kink them, and wrap the tubes with a spring or towel for support...

well I got her guys, 102" with a 6" spring.

 

[Skynet 15]

ok guys its done, swr still at 2.5 boy am I messing something up...

 

[Skynet 15]

ok guys its done, swr still at 2.5 boy am I messing something up...View attachment 17451

Any thoughts on why I'm getting 2.5 across the whole 1-40? Radials to short maybe? I'm all ears.

 

[222DBFL]

Try just the 102" whip only. No spring. Might be issue with spring?? Don't know but it's something to try at least. Also what are you using for the radials as it's hard to tell in the photos. Sorry if you said what you used in an earlier post. Just responding to the current one.

 

[Mudduckmobile]

Any thoughts on why I'm getting 2.5 across the whole 1-40? Radials to short maybe? I'm all ears.

I can't tell from your photo but it looks like your mast/gp set up is NOT below your RADIATOR, you must have your GP below the Radiator (102 whip) also how long are your GP wire's ? Oh, the idea 222DBFL has about removing the whip sounds good as well....and check to make sure that your Radiator is nor shorted to your ground. What you have is a working deal, there's something a foot....???? anyone????

 

[Skynet 15]

I can't tell from your photo but it looks like your mast/gp set up is NOT below your RADIATOR, you must have your GP below the Radiator (102 whip) also how long are your GP wire's ? Oh, the idea 222DBFL has about removing the whip sounds good as well....and check to make sure that your Radiator is nor shorted to your ground. What you have is a working deal, there's something a foot....???? anyone????

Hey guys thanks again, the radials are 4 5' steels rods 1/4 inch. They are below the radiator on a steel mount on a pvc pipe.

 

[Skynet 15]

I can't tell from your photo but it looks like your mast/gp set up is NOT below your RADIATOR, you must have your GP below the Radiator (102 whip) also how long are your GP wire's ? Oh, the idea 222DBFL has about removing the whip sounds good as well....and check to make sure that your Radiator is nor shorted to your ground. What you have is a working deal, there's something a foot....???? anyone????

I DID IT!!! BOOM!!! Took off the 4 radials and welded 2 as one to make 2 10ft rods. Then cut them down to 9 ft rods, I welded 2, 3" pins to the ring mount and used my wire clips to bite the radials to the pins for adjustments. I set her back up and pointed one radial north the other south. Swr CH 1 is 1.2 Ch 40 is 1.0.

 

[Mudduckmobile]

I DID IT!!! BOOM!!! Took off the 4 radials and welded 2 as one to make 2 10ft rods. Then cut them down to 9 ft rods, I welded 2, 3" pins to the ring mount and used my wire clips to bite the radials to the pins for adjustments. I set her back up and pointed one radial north the other south. Swr CH 1 is 1.2 Ch 40 is 1.0.

cool, i'm glad your on it...73's

 

[Skynet 15]

cool, i'm glad your on it...73's

I do wana thank all you guys for your help, advice and input on this topic for my problems. Beers on me. Cheers' on CH 15.

 

[Road Squawker]

.. which would explain why I had to enter 22 ohms in the calculator to get it to match the stated SWR... DB

Well,............. that would explain why the real VSWR is about 2:1, plug 100 ohms into your calculator and see what you get.... I wonder what it is when X = 0?.

This is exactly why the myth that "certain coax lengths are needed" is rampant.