[BC] Ground system

[jeff at rfproof.com]

>From: Cowboy [mailto:curt at spam-o-matic.net]

On Sunday 12 February 2012 10:54:42 am Dana Puopolo wrote:
>>What if one was to drive a ground rod a quarter wavelength into the ground? In essence put half the vertical half wave dipole in the ground.

>Then it would appear that fully half the signal, half the power at the feed point, would be entirely dissipated in keeping the worms nice and cozy. I'd suspect it'd be a dandy lightning ground, though.

I've always thought of the ground plane as a mirror. Think of placing a pencil, eraser (insulator) down on a mirror. Then look at the assembly from a distance. What do you see? A dipole.

There was a counterpoise antenna system on the roof of the old Selby Shoe factory in Portsmouth, OH, for WPAY (AM). I placed a pix of that installation in a recent article of mine in RG. You cannot see the counterpoise in the pix, however it got me thinking on how AM works with this type of antenna system.

Jeff.Johnson at rfproof.com