Richard Fry wrote:
* the peak "free space" gain of the monopole and its image is increas-
ed 3dB, because all radiation from it is confined to one hemisphere
(above the ground).

Remember, that's for perfect ground only (and maybe salt
water ground). If one buries half of a dipole in earth
ground, one loses most of that 3 dB to the ground.

For instance, EZNEC reports: The max gain of a 40m 1/4WL
vertical with 8 horizontal radials one foot above average
ground is -0.29 dBi. Raising the radials to one wavelength
above ground increases the max gain to +3.23 dBi. (Of course,
the 3D radiation patterns are not exactly the same but the
correlation to that 3 dB of image power is in there because
of decreased ground losses at increased height.)

Problem: Most everyone with a 1/4WL vertical and four buried
radials is throwing away about half of his/her source power.
Solution: Put up a horizontal dipole. :-)
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp

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