ground radial coils

I have a HyGain vertical and live on a very small city lot. I plan to put the vert. on a roof tripod. I want to lay out 3 or 4 radials per band. In an effort to save space, can I shorten ground radials using (homemade) loading coils? How will this affect my radiation pattern and S/N, if at all?

 

Yes you can. It will make your bandwidth a bit narrower though. Shouldn't affect your radiation pattern measurably.

eric

 

Thank you, Eric. Just what I needed to know. I may have to sacrifice bandwidth, but with my tiny lot (and lack of tall trees), I may not have a choice. ...Mike

 

I had an issue with not enough room for radials if I ran them out straight. I layed them out in what ended up as spiral pattern. This took up a lot less room, but took some planning to get them down.

They did not effect band width, but were a bit hard to tune.

I have also run some radials in a zig zag to fit the garden (and not upset the wife).

These were for home brewed antennas.

Good luck.

 

Thanks, Dan. I have very little room to work with, but may be able to "zig-zag" a couple of radials. However, this could be a better option than sacrificing bandwidth.

 

To minimize horizontal radiation, you want your zigs and zags as symmetrical as possible. (Your zigs don't have to be symmetrical with your zags, but each zig should be symmetrical with the other zigs, and your zags symmetrical with your other zags).

eric

 

How well do "artificial earths" like the MFJ 931 work? The theory is fine, but ...

This would certainly avoid the problems of a physical radial earth system, but it's an extra tuning operation.