In article ,
"Irv Finkleman" wrote:

In a number of places I've read that in the case of a short vertical
antenna. the radials need be no longer than the height of the antenna
which in my case is about 8 ft. Even then I will be pressed to spread
out the currently planned eight 9ft. radials on my small balcony. I'll have
wire
all over the place but once I get things working I hope to lay a bit of
outdoor carpeting over the radials to make things look a little
neater.

Irv-

You do what you can. If you can tune the antenna for a match, you're on
the air!

In my experience, a short antenna such as a Hamstick does not work well
on 75 or 40 Meters using this method, especially with such short
radials. Adding radials may help, especially on the higher bands.

If you have a metal balcony rail, make a connection to the rail at the
base of the antenna, and run the radials from there. A clamp used with
a ground rod may work. Or you might use a trucker's CB mirror mount to
both make a ground connection and mount the antenna.

Example:
http://www.amazon.com/MIRROR-MOUNT-A...t/dp/B004X84B5
K

Fred
K4DII