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Radial laying methods
Steve Bonine wrote
When I read what Dave had written, it struck me that it's an illustration of a trait that I have observed often in our hobby: It has to be done *exactly* the right way. A 1.2:1 SWR isn't good enough. Radials have to be *buried* since obviously they won't be as effective if they're just laid on the ground. Yeah, several hours of back breaking work and possibly risking your life might gain you 1 db that no one will be able to detect . . . or maybe not even that. We need to be a bit more forgiving of non-optimum solutions and do a bit more cost/benefit analysis on the work it takes to convert them to optimum solutions. I've a different view on several points. I didn't see Dave's message as "has to be done *exactly* right", but simply a different way of securing the radials, WITHOUT "have to be *buried*. But given the amount of copper he's laid down, obviously he's intent on getting the best performance he can muster on 160. Nothing wrong with that, and that 1 db may be just the amount needed to snag that last Z for WAZ Top Band, or break through the east coast curtain to log a multiplier in the Stu Perry Challenge. Your anecdote about the Red Cross van is well taken, but I think it illustrates a point. There are times when we readily accept "get 'er done" as "good enough", such as during a disaster like Katrina, or for a temporary setup like Field Day, or a demonstration station at the local high school. But when we engineer our home station (especially if we're serious about DXing or contesting) we go to all reasonable (and yes, even sometimes unreasonable) lengths to get the best performance we can squeeze out. A couple db better front-to-back, another microvolt to the receiver, more KC between the 2:1 spots on the VSWR curve, an easier way to reduce ground losses under a Battle Creek Special, or a better ergonomic chair for those long contests. In that regard, many of us have no "forgiveness of non-optimum". 73, RDW |
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