Amateur Radio Stack Exchange
Amateur Radio Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [radial]

29 questions
13
votes
3 answers

What is the effect of using different number of radials with ground plane antenna

I'm new to electronics and telecommunication at all, I having trouble with understanding the difference between 2, 3 and 4 radials, as I've searched online I've learned that I can use only 1 radial(and it makes sense) but when using 2, 3 or 4 its to…
Aviel Fedida
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9
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7 answers

When and why does the size of a ground plane or radials matter?

Consider these three cases: My understanding is that when building or installing an antenna designed to operate over a ground plane (e.g. a quarter-wave vertical), the size of the ground plane does not matter (e.g. the earth, possibly coupled using…
Kevin Reid AG6YO
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1 answer

Are Elevated Radials Necessary for Elevated, 5/8-wave "Ground-Plane" Antennas?

Currents at the base of an elevated, 5/8-wave, vertical ground-plane (GP) transmit antenna are lower than when that vertical conductor is 1/4-wavelength. Does this mean that the performance of the elevated radials is less important in producing…
Richard Fry
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5
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1 answer

Radial length for vertical antennas?

I plan on installing a vertical antenna soon. I expect it to cover from 80 meters to 10 (or perhaps 6). I plan on putting down 32 radials. I am wondering if 16 66' and 16 33' radials will be just as efficient for the higher bands as would having…
MarqTwine
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4
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3 answers

Radials on a vertical, spread out evenly or not?

To have a groundmounted quarter wave vertical with a decent efficiency you need at least 16 radials. So normally you would spread them out on the ground evenly around the base. This would give an angle of 360/16 = 22,5 degrees between two…
ON5MF Jurgen
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4
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2 answers

Can I ignore the radial elements of a 2m/70cm antenna if it's on a metal roof?

I'm looking for a dual band base station antenna, and find that many of them have short radials around the base. Due to the specifics of my installation, I need to remove them. However, it is being mounted in a way that the antenna penetrates the…
Adam Davis
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3
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2 answers

How low can a vertical dipole be mounted?

An answer to this question suggests that raising a vertical dipole sufficiently can create the effect of a phased array. How about the opposite. How low can a vertical dipole be mounted? Can a vertical dipole be mounted with the bottom tip at or…
hotpaw2
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3
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2 answers

Using two short mobile HF antennas to make a vertical dipole

Instead of using a metal vehicle roof or multiple radials as the counterpose to a shortened vertical antenna, can one use two of them, one pointed downward to construct a balanced vertical dipole, and mounting the pair up higher? Are there any…
hotpaw2
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3
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What do you connect antenna Radials to?

I am trying to communicate between two arduino microcontrollers using radio. For this purpose I am building a whip antenna with 4 ¼ wave radials. I've done a bit of reading and have got most of it, but all guides I've found are a bit vague on the…
user5227744
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2 answers

HF Vertical antenna with no radial and loading coil but only ATU for 80m to 10m in a boat

I am new to HF antenna designs. I want to build an antenna for my fishing boat. My question is - if I use an ATU (like the ATU-100) and a 10m aluminium pipe as an antenna and fix it with a mast, will that work to transmit and receive in multiple…
Asif Rahman
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3
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1 answer

Using threaded rod for VHF radials

I've been thinking about building a VHF antenna using stainless threaded rod for the ground plane's radials to mate with a hub I already have. My theory is that will make life easier than trying to put threads on stainless round bar myself. But I…
user3486184
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2 answers

What do radials really do for a vertical antenna?

I have read everything I can find about monopole (vertical antenna) radials, and also watched many YouTube videos that touch on the topic. I see conflicting information about what they do, where a particular article or video tends to fall into one…
User5754448
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2 answers

Ground plane reflects RF or brings it to ground

I'm still confused with the purpose of a ground plane purpose in an antenna. My understanding is this. If an antenna is perfectly balanced, there will be no common-mode currents going to ground. If an antenna is unbalanced in any way, there will be…
Engineer999
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3 answers

Is The Lowest Antenna Terminal Feedpoint SWR Always Optimal?

Intuition might lead one to believe that the antenna configuration with the lowest SWR(50) across its input terminals would provide the best radiation efficiency for the antenna system. But is that always a correct assumption?
Richard Fry
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3 answers

Ground-Plane radial sizing, is there such thing as too long?

I'm just trying to make sure I understand the theory correctly. I have some triband VHF/UHF/800MHz antennas, I need to mount on a tower so I plan on using a "mobile to base" conversion kit. The kits i'm mostly looking at are specified for VHF/UHF,…
Frank
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