RadioBanter - View Single Post

Oregonian Haruspex · October 15th 14, 11:57 PM posted to rec.radio.amateur.antenna

On 2014-10-15 22:04:30 +0000, said:

How much control do you have over the local ground or nearby objects?

Depends on your location, really. Some to lots, in general. It's
possible to change your local ground (especially directly under the
antenna) with soil emendation and moisture control though this is never
even considered or mentioned in any amateur or professional radio texts
as far as I have seen.

How much control do you have over the design of an antenna you are
designing?

Some to lots, depending on your budget and the space available.

On the contrary, first you analyze the antenna, then add nearby objects
to the model and adjust the ground conditions to your real ones.

I suppose that's one way. It seems unnecessarily slow and methodical
though, especially as most (all?) models are either terrible at
accounting for enarby objects, or fail to do so entirely. So you take
your rough model and start trying to account for trees, the local
topography, and pretty soon it's two years later and you haven't even
bought your antenna supplies let alone run the coax because you're
still trying to account for what happens when the geese fly over the
antenna in November.

I assume you have made measurements of your local ground or have at
least looked at the various maps that are available?

Why would you assume such a silly thing? I live about two hundred
yards from the ocean, at an altitude of about 8' above sea level.