With a 1/4wl vertical (mounted close to ground level) and you add a parasitic
(either a reflector or director) do you just ground mount it or do you need
radials or does it depend upon the ground conditions?

I noticed in running a few simple examples on EZNEC that the impedance drops
with the number of parasitics and the spacing. for example the 1/4wl alone will
be close to 50 ohms and with a parasitic the impedance will drop to less than
half in some arrangements (especially with 0.15wl spacing). Is this due to the
interactions of the driven and parasitic element?

By the way I was quite impressed by the potential F/B ratio and almost
cardioid pattern with a reflector and director added

Alan KB7MBI
Woodinville, WA