Cecil Moore wrote:
Laying the insulated wires on the ground resulted in a
reduction of VF of about 50%. The marked increase in
feedpoint impedance was due to the attenuation of the
reflected waves arriving back at the feedpoint and
agrees closely with my calculations of such.

I forgot to say: Note that the dipole laying on the ground
was close to one wavelength, yet the feedpoint impedance
is not all that high. It would appear that 1/2 wavelength
buried radials do NOT present a high impedance.
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp