Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
|
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Yacht RF ground and radials
Will wrote:
"Does sea water make a good enough ground without radials?" It`s the best you can get in a boat at sea, The point is to get a good connection to the sea. You don`t need radials for that. That`s why a thin copper plate is recommended. Copper is durable and poisonous to sea organisns which may foul the surfaces of other materials. Skin effect applies. Bolting to a spot inside a metal hull means the RF must travel from the bolt location inside the hull (it can`t penetrate the hull) to an edge where it reaches from the inside surface to the outside surface and thence to the waterline. DC resistsance of a conductor is resistivity x length divided by crossection. AC resistance is more but proportioned to the DC resistance. A large crossection or area produces a low resistance. That`s why the plate is better for contacting the water than a wire. Its also why the seawater has a low resistance despite a higher resistivity than copper. The huge crossection of seawater has very low resistance in most cases and its reactance is low too. Low resistance and low reactance make a good path for RF. Best regards, Richard Harrison, KB5WZI |
Reply |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
Inverted ground plane antenna: compared with normal GP and low dipole. | Antenna | |||
Radials | Antenna | |||
Grounds | Shortwave | |||
Base Antenna Mounting | CB | |||
QST Article: An Easy to Build, Dual-Band Collinear Antenna | Antenna |