Amateur Radio Stack Exchange
Amateur Radio Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [earth]

Questions about the surface of the Earth as it affects radio propagation and antenna system design and installation. For questions about RF grounds and shields, counterpoises, virtual grounds, etc. use [grounding] instead unless the question is particularly about soil properties or similar details.

[This tag has been named to make it clearly distinct from forms of that are not "earth ground". This naming choice should be revisited if it is not succeeding at its goal.]

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Does iron ore in the ground affect my signal?

Mineral content in the ground varies from one place to another. I've visited places where the ground & waters were an orange-red shade from the high iron content; not good for trees either. This post on eHam.net, seems to indicate there may be…
VU2NHW
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Using Earth as an RF ground

I have built a simple ground plane antenna for 70cm with a connector, 4 radials, and one vertical element. The RF ground is connected to the radials, and the RF is connected to the vertical. It got me thinking, can the actual earth be used, because…
Skyler 440
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Passively reducing ground loss?

Would a disconnected wire or conductive mat below a low height antenna reduce ground losses? A tuned length of wire under a wire antenna might be suitable for NVIS gain. But would a bunch of space blankets or unconnected random length wires or mesh…
hotpaw2
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How can Ground Penetrating Radar work?

I was reading about GPR devices recently. Considering the operation frequency of these devices, how they can go that deep (up to 50 feet)? Normally you would only expect a Hz to KHz range signal to go that deep into the ground.
Samk80
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Does geology affect radio signals?

following on from an earlier question about Iron Ore affecting radio waves... are there any other geological properties that can affect radio waves? Are certain frequencies more susceptible to geology than others?
Diatu
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How do I interpret the FCC ground conductivity map files?

The FCC has .seq files that show ground conductivity which it makes available for download. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be any documentation that comes with the files, or even headers. I can make an educated guess that there are two…
user3486184
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How Does the Performance of Elevated Radials Differ from That of Buried Radials?

NEC4.2 provides some information about this topic that may be of interest to some readers.
Richard Fry
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High-resolution GIS datasets of groundwave conductivity of the United States, besides the FCC?

The FCC publishes a map of estimated groundwave conductivity of the United States, but the resolution is quite low: Are there any GIS datasets that include groundwave conductivity at a higher resolution and with more precision? For example, at the…
Michael A
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Not-too-distant saltwater ground

Problem I'm planning on mounting a vertical HF multiband antenna on the edge of my roof. Due to the presence of a paved walkway and some other similar property constraints, I have no room for radials anywhere near the mounting area. However, I do…
Eric
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Can I use electrical ground / earth as my RF ground?

I live on a high floor in an apartment block and have a radial-free multi-band vertical antenna attached to my terrace railing. This is the antenna : https://www.thunderpole.co.uk/amateur-radio-homebase-antennas/se-hf-x80-vertical-hf-antenna.html It…
Engineer999
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How thick should counterpoise wires be?

I would like to use a shortened whip antenna with a coil in it's base, e.g. OPEK HVT-400B. My transceiver maximum power is 100 W (and antenna's - 120 W). To make the antenna work I need counterpoise wires. As I understand using three 1/4 wavelength…
Aleksander Alekseev - R2AUK
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Ground radials: Electrical difference between 14 gauge and 18 gauge? Lifespan difference?

I am starting the process of installing a vertical ant (6BTV) and radial ground system. I am ready to buy the wire. I would like to know if there is an electrical difference between 14 gauge and 18 gauge wire when used as a radial ground system? I…
MarqTwine
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Counterpoise/ground/radial options for an Inverted L

I have two 10-meter masts to support a 40-meter inverted L. I have a decent enough sized yard that I have a few options for counterpoise/ground/radial. I could run 1/4 wave radials in several directions along the ground/just below the surface and…
K8KV
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