Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Fri, 14 Feb 2014 10:08:58 +0000 (UTC), Brian Reay
wrote:
I'm looking for 'out of the box' ideas, I can fit in a camping 'pitch' and
setup /tear down quickly.
Ok, I won't mention the standard solutions, such as grounding it to
your motor home, elevated ground systems, or giving up on the vertical
(which needs a ground to act as a counterpoise) and installing a
horizontal dipole, which doesn't need the ground.
The reason I use a vertical is it avoids the need for supports, European
pitches tend to be small and running a dipole over an adjoining pitch may
be an issue.
For out of the box ideas, I suggest you try
1. Attach a ground wire to a tennis ball. Flush the ball down the
toilet and into the sewer hookup. Eventually, it will hit the
campground septic tank, which will make an excellent ground.
In Europe, the toilets are not on the pitch.
2. Find a roll of welded wire fencing. Notice that I said welded,
not galvanized or twisted. Roll out the fence wire onto your campsite
and park you mobile home on top of it. You now have a ground.
That I like.
3. Dump some water on the ground around the campsite. As long as
it's wet, it will conduct, and you have a ground.
4. Do your camping in a swamp or over quicksand. Just push a ground
rod into the wet ground and you're done. Be sure to equip your mobile
home with pontoons, or you may have that sinking feeling.
Neither will make a huge difference to the RF gnd. properties compared to
'normal' dirt. You need to be in sea water for that and my XYL isn't keen
on boats.
5. The problem with using the a mobile home as a ground is the
insulating tires. What you need is a way to connect the aluminum
camper to the ground directly. Most mobile homes have leveling jacks.
Instead of the usual 4 jacks, install several dozen jacks, some of
which have sharp points that push into the ground. That should take
care of the insulating tires.
The other issue is, with the antenna mounted near the real ground, you will
have a huge lump of grounded metal in the near field. Far from a good idea.
Thank you for the input.
73
Brian
G8OSN/W8OSN
www.g8osn.net