reflectors for dipoles - Elmers Forum at eHam.net

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reflectors for dipoles	Reply
by N5YPJ on July 23, 2004	Mail this to a friend!
I've seen a few posts regarding placing wires on the ground under a dipole to serve as a reflector, bettering poor ground conditions. I use a w5gi dipole at 35' and would like to know if it is practical for me to try this. My soil is sandy, abt 4 - 6' deep and from there solid rock - not so great. The w5gi works well, but I'd like to get a little more oomph on the high angle on 40 & 75. Is it possible to use a reflector wire(s) on a multiband dipole, if so how long? Would using a reflector ruin the antenna's radiation angle on 20 meters? Thanks for your thoughts

RE: reflectors for dipoles	Reply
by W8JI on July 23, 2004	Mail this to a friend!
A "reflector" on or near the ground below a dipole does NOT raise an antennas wave angle. That's a myth. Any sort of counterpoise on or near the ground simply improves efficiency. This means it increases signal level at all angles. 73 Tom

RE: reflectors for dipoles	Reply
by W4TYU on July 23, 2004	Mail this to a friend!
Yes you certainly can make and use a wire beam if you have the space to do so. Ole man Jean

RE: reflectors for dipoles	Reply
by KC8VWM on July 23, 2004	Mail this to a friend!
Sounds like your real problem is poor soil conditions. You said your soil is "sandy". One way to improve your soil conditions is to buy some bags of water softener salt and saturate the ground with it. However, BE ADVISED - Salt will indeed kill grass. So if you live somewhere in Arizona and have no grass this will not be a problem. Otherwise, you can pick a spot (preferably under the backyard deck) and you can then saturate it with bags of salt, water the heck out of it with a lawn sprinkler - and then place a few groundrods there. Another desireable and additional benefit of doing this is in the fact that the salt will help keep the weeds and other growth from occuring under the deck. This means less yard work and more DX'ing on Saturdays! Good Luck 73 Charles - KC8VWM

RE: reflectors for dipoles	Reply
by AC5E on July 23, 2004	Mail this to a friend!
Hi Richard: The last time I was in Del Rio one of my dad's friends paid me to hand dig a new pit for his two holer outhouse. So I can certainly appreciate the soil problems in your area! First, a "low" (in terms of wavelength) dipole is pretty much going to be a cloudwarmer. It's radiation pattern will be primarily straight up, giving you pretty good coverage out to a few hundred miles and less good beyond that. A reflector wire, or several buried wires a few feet apart, under your dipole will cut ground losses and improve signal strength within the present coverage area, but it won't turn your dipole into a prime DX antenna. You can shift the pattern a bit by offsetting the buried wires a few feet one way or the other. Again, this does not do wonders but if your dipole runs N/S and you can afford to have little less signal into Chihuahua, offsetting the reflectors 12 to 15 feet west will put a bit more signal into Austin. 73 Pete Allen AC5E

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