On Sat, 22 Apr 2006 20:43:12 GMT, Telamon
wrote:

In article ,
Monroe wrote:

As a lone time listener but relative newbie to the tech, I've been
educating myself on system basics including ground questions.
Currently using a marginal 1.0 m steel post as a ground for a
shortwave Rx application. Intention is to upgrade to a 8 - 10 ft
ground rod (the only ground off of a 9:1 balun - post ground and balun
bracket - that a coax feedline connects with the Rx; this associated
with an inverted "L" antenna). I've read plenty of references to
copper rod or copper clad ground rods but I've yet to have any local
suppliers recognize this (let alone be able to supply). Standard
availability in my area are galvanized steel ground rods. Are these
of equivalent quality?

Grounds are very important for single wire antennas. They are
unimportant for balanced antennas like dipoles.

If you have a single wire like your inverted L then the ground is
important because it is only half the antenna. The ground is the other
half.

How well the ground rods work depends on the ground conductivity so the
bigger rod may make an improvement or it may not.

A better thing to do other rather than pound in another ground rod
would be to add a ground radial. To test this without much pain attach
a wire to the ground stake with a clamp and run it on top of the ground
underneath your current antenna. Check out the difference it makes on
your reception on several stations on different bands to see if it
makes an improvement.

If the wire laying on the ground makes a significant improvement then
you take the effort to dig a shallow trench and bury it.

The ground wire, even on a single wire antenna, may make little
difference listening wise. I have an inverted L on 20 meters; the
ground makes a huge difference on transmit, bringing down the SWR; but
on receive, I hear no difference whether the ground is attached or
not.

bob
k5qwg