4. Verticals: if you put in a good counterpoise, verticals can
outperform
The work is
in the
ground system: you'll need to dig up a lot of yard, but you'll only do
it
once.
=========================
Agreed. But there's too much emphasis placed on the number and length of
radials needed for a satisfactory ground electrode system for verticals of
moderate height.

Much depends, of course, on the quality of the soil under the antenna but in
general the number of radials, or other electrodes, in the ground needed for
satisfactory operation is fewer than usually recommended in the handbooks
and magazine articles and by the plagiarists and the old wives on newsgroups
who play things far too safely.

1. Forget all about Marzipan the Magician's magic number of 118.5 radials of
1/2-wavelength radials.

2. Don't bother with ground plates or rods if you have space to lay
shallow-buried radials. They are hardly better than a shallow buried radial
of length equal to their longest dimension. Generally they are a waste of
effort and material.

2. In ordinary garden soil begin by laying one shallow-buried radial of
1/10th or 1/12 wavelengths long at the lowest frequency of interest.
There's not much point in increasing length of radials longer than the
height of the vertical antenna they are associated with. In good soil much
shorter lengths are satisfactory.

3. On receive, using your S-meter, measure signal strength of a number of
stable radio transmissions. These will usually be found at MF and LF but
include HF if there are any to be found. Take averages over time periods at
the same time of day or night.

4. Now double the number of radials. Roughly of the same length. Spread them
around over the space available. Carefully record the improvement in signal
strenghts. Guess at fractions of an S-unit. Keep your receiver stable.

5. Roughly double the number of radials again. Record signal strengths as
before.

6. Keep doubling the number of radials until there is no significant
increase in received signal strengths. Add one or two more for luck. Then
STOP!

7. For extremely poor, arid, sandy, rocky, infertile soil, start with
1/8-wavelength radials at the lowest frequency of interest.

8. For highly fertile, moist, agricultural soil, start with 1/16th
wavelength radials at the lowest frequency of interest.

9. At 10 or 20 MHz and above, the minimum length of buried radials is not of
great practical importance. Most backyards will accommodate them. A length
of 4 metres or 12 feet will suffice in reasonable soil.

10. If there's any wire left over after laying radials then use it to
increase the number of radials rather than their length.

I am reluctant to use a personal example to ullustrate the foregoing
philosophy but I will say that for many years I have used an inverted-L on
160m and higher frequencies with only 8 radials of varying lengths up to 6
feet, each terminated with an earth rod of 0.5 inches diameter, 30 inches
long. The garden soil is of the order of 70 ohm-metres. I have used the
system in the knowledge that if I had doubled the length of the radials, or
doubled their number, there would have been no detectable increase in signal
strength on either transmit or receive.

Reciprocity Rules !
----
Reg, G4FGQ