Jerry,
I started with one radial.. and added inductance here the radial connected to the base of the antenna.. wish I remembered what valuee I used .. but I dont. then trimmed the radial I had pre cut somewhat longer than 1/8 wl..I dont remember if I used an RF sniffer or a clamp on ammeter to trim the radial when you are done each radial will be ballanced to the correct length and be physically 1/8th wl long but loaded to 1/4 wl.. These seem to work well. My problem at the moment is that with the new McMansions next to me I now have all kinds of common mode problems. Of course it could be some new appliance or device my wife has added to the house.. I still have to resolve it. Jim ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jerry Keller (K3BZ)" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, November 11, 2011 9:23:44 PM Subject: Re: Topband: Inverted L antennas. Hi, Jim.... W3LPL ought to know! Very interesting ideas! I had arrived at the conclusion that elevated radials were what I want to try, and certainly 1/8 wavelength is a lot easier than longer ones.... however, I'm not sure what you mean by "1/8 wl long now but they are loaded and tuned to 1/4 wl electrical length".... how do you tune 1/8 wave radials to 1/4 wavelength? Jerry K3BZ -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] Sent: Friday, November 11, 2011 5:49 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Topband: Inverted L antennas. I use an inverted L here but it goes to within 6 inches of the ground. total length is about 160ft with about 70 vertical. I use a homebrew variable cap to match it. My radials are 4 loaded radials that are tuned to be electrically 1/4 wl long. When I first installed this antenna many years ago it was at the suggestion W3LPL. After installing it I got frustrated when everyone else was hearing and working things that I could not even hear. A call to Frank helped solve some of the problems.. he told me to walk out about 6-10 ft from the base of the antenna, grab the radial throw it up in the tree about 6 or 7 ft above the ground. Then he told me to disconnect my ground from the base of the antenna. 20 minutes later I was hearing and working all kinds of europeans to include russians. Over the years I have made several modifications to the antenna like adding an UNUN at the feed point to mitigate common mode problems etc. The secret is elevated radials and disconnecting the ground at the base of the antenna... I only use 4 radials that are 1/8 wl long now but they are loaded and tuned to 1/4 wl electrical length... It works great Hope this helps the gentleman that is wanting info on inverted L antenna installation. Jim WA3MEJ _______________________________________________ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK _______________________________________________ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
