The Best Grounded Radials For Your Antenna

[@off-trailseeking3965]

Well that was fun! It would be real interesting to see how the faraday ground cloth would stack up to the tuned and untuned radials as well.

[@KC3UVF]

Callum did some work on this a while back. The conclusion seemed to me to be that with ground radials it is number over length. More shorter radials is better than fewer longer. The only time tuning becomes an issue is with raised radials ala the PERformer or Boomerang :)

[@hughpatterson1480]

Brilliant video! I've been working on this very issue, tuned versus untuned radials. In researching this, it seems that more shorter radials (untuned) seems to win over less tuned radials. Yesterday, I decided to build a Rybacov antenna. I found a 27 foot Bamboo stalk in the yard, leftover speaker wire, and enough spare parts to build a 4:1 unun. Without tuning the wire via cutting/shortening, I threw down a bunch of random radials and the thing worked. You videos have gotten me trying everything I can for antennas. My final triumph will be making an antenna out of a rusty coat hanger and an old fisherman's boot. I'm sure my Xeigu U will tuner it. Thanks again for another great video...73...Hugh...KN6KNB

[@ThereseBrosnan]

Enjoying your upbeat and interesting videos, Simon, thank you! Keep them coming!

[@thehamjazz]

Wooohooo thanks so much Therese for watching. Cheers!

[@grantandjanice]

I just spent some time today playing with a 17' telescopic vertical with a 90 degree home-made mount (so I can use a second 17' telescopic as a tuned radial for 20m) and I got significant differences in SWR when using the second telescopic as a raised counterpoise vs lying on the ground. Pretty sure you "detuned" those tuned radials. So, I suspect that in reality, you were comparing MORE shorter radials vs fewer longer radials. Would love to see tape measure "tuned" on the ground, VS tape measure tuned raised up 3' or so....

[@thehamjazz]

Hey buddy, thanks for watching and leaving a comment. Sounds like a great idea! Woohooo. Happy building mate! Cheers

[@williamkizer3445]

Thanks for the info. Fascinating

[@MikeN2MAK]

I've been experimenting with using a tuned elevated radial and it's been great.

[@stevea3498]

that was truly interesting. I got home late and missed most of the stream but I got there when you added the 3rd tape when we had our contact. the 3rd tape did help in my direction , maybe 1/2 an s unit. Conditions were tough though !! Always a hoot !! VE1SK

[@thehamjazz]

Thanks buddy, loads of fun. Thanks for everything Steve buddy. Enjoy the 705 wooohooo!

[@JReed305]

I think there is a small problem with how you have the antennas placed. With the close proximity of them you esentialy created a vertical two element beam (not a ton of gain but enough to skew your patern a bit). with the induced directionality of the two elements and the interaction between them, I am not sure you were able to get a true representation of the antennas. Still makes for a fun video.

[@DK5ONV]

WOHOOOO...FANTASTIC 💯😍👌

[@jerryKB2GCG]

Mmmm…I always thought tuned radials need to be raised to be effective

[@robertbower9862]

I had the same thought.

[@thehamjazz]

Maybe the next video ;-) Personally mate, I prefer raised radials, but wanted to do an 'apples to apples' test on grounding them all and see what the results were. Oh you gotta love the mystery and magic of ham radio eh? Happy building mate! cheers

[@w4mps1964]

@@thehamjazzsame here Mate. After 60 years I’ve concluded that getting my vertical off the ground at about 5 or 6 feet with tuned radials, is the way to go.

[@digitalanaloguehamradio]

Very original comparison, never seen anything like this Mentioned before

[@thehamjazz]

Thanks for everything Chris my friend! Wooohooo. You're the best!

[@BigJohnsHamShack]

Love it bud. Thanks for the video!

[@thehamjazz]

Thanks Big John for your support and friendship mate! Cheers. buddy

[@morecambeanglersandtrawler1074]

I’d like to see you test yourbuch of 8.9ft radials against elevated tuned radials 1 or 2 or 3 radials ???

[@thehamjazz]

Hey buddy, that's the next video! Already planning hahaha. Can't wait! Thanks for everything Mark. Cheers my friend

[@morecambeanglersandtrawler1074]

@@thehamjazz I made contact with nick in Calgary rockies late last night Midnight my time. 5/9 for over an hour. Wooohooo. I’m useing a random wire with a single elevated 30ft counter poise. Works great. See you soon Simon. Mark. Thanks

[@sleeve8651]

Something tells me, this is all dependent on ground conductivity ! And where you are in the World ! As to how you deploy radials. Just a guess ? Too, I think an intentional switching between simply antenna 1 and antenna 2, without a prompt, about tuned or untuned ! But even a better test eliminating the human element, would be to use something like WebSDR receivers ! Real time results at your finger tips ! 👍😉 Cheers & Beers Mate !

[@KeepEvery1Guessing]

I do suspect that it will depend on ground quality. With at least fair ground conductivity, more wire and no tuning should be fine. But with really bad ground conductivity (desert sand, bare rock summit) they may start acting as elevated radials, and conventional wisdom is that elevated radials must be tuned. It might be fun to test.

[@shakymedia_UK]

Thanks for this great experiment with radials. Been playing with the 17ft whip myself and been meaning to try the same tests. Interesting your results. One interesting thing would be repeating the test over different ground conditions like somewhere next to the sea or lake as I feel the ground conductivity may give differing results. Just a thought. Thanks for great video. 73’s John GM0MST

[@thehamjazz]

G'day John, thanks so much for watching mate, and leaving a comment. ABSOLUTELY! ground composition is unfortunately one thing (like the weather ha!) that we have no control over, and I bet the results would be vastly different. I've spoken to my buddy Wes VA5MUD about this exact point... and doing the same test at his QTH, which is over 1500kms inland from me, and how different the results would be? sounds like another video is in order hahaha. Thanks so much for watching John. Cheers!

[@RunningRog]

Did you choke the coax at the antenna base? If not, the coax outer becomes part of the radial system and will skew the results.

[@rolnas21]

Did you tune radials on ground by using VNA ? They should be shortened to tune on ground. If they are too long, currency maximum goes to radials (improving SWR like in dummy load) and radiation suffers (in case small number of radials

[@thehamjazz]

Good question.... I just used the 1/4 wave formula, and used that length, and manipulated the whip to get 1:1 SWR. I appreciate you watching and leaving a comment. Cheers

[@mewrongwayKOCXF]

Did you get them tapes from Dick Smith?

[@GordonHudson]

I agree. If you are operating multiband its too complicated to have tuned radials. I saw a video where someone compared untuned radials to a single elevated tuned radial and the untinrd ones were better.

[@thehamjazz]

G'day Gordon, great to hear from you mate. I couldn't agree more - tuned radials on the ground are just so cumbersome. Hey mate, if you're interested, I've started a music channel for fun, hahaha. The URL is youtube.com/@projazztips Hope you're doing great mate. Cheers

[@GordonHudson]

@@thehamjazz Thanks, will definitely check that out over the next few days. Had some lip trouble recently. Weird unreliablity. One day I can be on stage doing American in Paris, the next day i sound like a 7 year old beginner.

[@thehamjazz]

@@GordonHudson Hey buddy, yep the old trumpet is an unforgiving piece of metal at times. Have you ever tried taking an aspirin before a gig when you know you've got swollen chops? I have done it a couple of times, but I have a buddy in California who swears by it. 1 aspirin before a gig. Who knows. hahaha. Cheers mate, and thanks for checking out my other fun and giggles channel

[@GordonHudson]

@@thehamjazz Ibuprofen works better! I have had two non trumpet related facial injuries that are the cause of this when it happens, although today my playing has been fine.

[@GordonHudson]

Nat Gonella kzbin.info/www/bejne/nWTZoKN-fphom5Isi=pD0Ll7rwe-nzqez7

[@32_bits]

A good experiment with radials. My best so far to cover 20 to 10m is 4 x 5m (20m) and 4 x 2.5m (10m). This then covers 17, 15 and 12. Do you use a choke on the coax and have you tried this at the feedpoint?

[@thehamjazz]

Thanks for your comment buddy. That sounds great - it sure is nice to find a radial length that works universally eh? As far as a choke goes.... I always use a choke, but in this instance I couldn't as I have 2 feed lines coming into the switch. If I was to do this permanently I would definitely add a choke. I had no issues with RFI, I guess because the antennas were both resonant. Happy building my friend. Cheers

[@michaellanders1601]

woohoo

[@morecambeanglersandtrawler1074]

You may have to raid the antenna 1 my off ground ??

[@morecambeanglersandtrawler1074]

1mt off ground

[@alexjh47]

Hmm... did you detune the other antenna when you were switching? I wonder if the other antenna was acting as a director/reflector. In my experience, tuning radials is needed if they're elevated... otherwise I was never able to get a proper SWR on my vertical.

[@thehamjazz]

Hey buddy, I didn't detune one antenna when switching. I tried to get them at least a 1/4 wave apart, so yes there might be a little interaction going on, but unfortunately it was the best 'scenario' I could work with, in terms of real estate needed and lengths of coax. Happy building mate! Cheers

[@yotubeurk]

why not 4 measuring tapes with 3x you get a directional effect just like the boomerang antenna with 1x radial

[@thehamjazz]

Why not indeed buddy, great idea. The problem is I didn't have a 4th tape measure ha! and not only that, the HUGE amount of real estate needed for minimal gain, kind of doesn't really make sense to me? I have heard that 2 tuned radials will work as well as 4. Who knows! The mystery and magic of ham radio wooohoooo. Thanks so much for watching and leaving a comment buddy. Cheers!

[@BryanBurrma]

This makes no sense to me. You would need 12 untuned radials of the same wire as the tuned to be any bit a comparison 😢

[@thehamjazz]

@@BryanBurrma you’re absolutely right mate - this comparison totally sucks - I appreciate your feedback and comment. Cheers