Dave Heil wrote:

BNB Sound wrote:
I've heard of hams setting up
verticals with very minimal radials, just driving several ground rods.

I've heard of it too, but it is another very bad idea. There is simply
no way that driven ground rods can substitute for a radial screen. They
are intended to do different things.

Correct. RF "grounding" is so different from Power ground that it
shouldn't even be called the same thing. Good RF grounding can be had
without a direct connection to the earth, my radials are insulated wire
and don't have any wire exposure to the ground, so that they won't
corrode. (note that the antenna gets direct connection to ground through
the base.

It sounded freaky weird to me at first, but as I put in my radials over
several sessions (criteria being how long my poor abused knees could
stand it) I measured and adjusted the system each time, and it worked as
advertised. More radials = better grounding. The coil at the bottom of
my vertical required less and less inductance to match the system.

But it surely isn't a power ground, and given that the rf is absorbed
(right word) at or near the ground surface, those ground rods would only
be useful at that first foot or so.

- 73 de Mike N3LI -