DECEMBER 12, 2018

Writing Book About Verticals from a Salt Marsh Next to the Sea

Compliments of a local family, I am installing the station in an unoccupied house next to the ocean to write Saltwater Verticals & Phased Arrays, a book about verticals on the 40 Meter band. The most-recent updates, appearing below, are research for the chapter about installing a pair of phased verticals in a salt marsh, and then unleashing them on the 40 Meter band. Saltwater Verticals & Phased Arrays provides readers with a more detailed exposition of theroretical and technical matters covered on this popular QRZ.com page. Thank you everybody and enjoy! 

No antennas up yet, but with 1/4 vertical mounted on the deck with 2 radials thrown over the railing I can hear Europe at 2 PM in the afternoon on 3.5 and 7 Mhz, and easily listen to AM broadcast radio stations in Chicago after sunset. We will now continue our antenna experiments, striving to achieve the following scenarios:

Phase I: 7 MHz Reference Antenna
Let's put up a 1/4WL vertical in the deck with a few elevated counterpoise wires as a reference antenna for future experiments.

Phase II: 7 MHZ Vertical in the Salt Marsh Without Any Radials
Let's see if there is any truth to the wive's tale that there's no need for radials in salt water.

Phase III: Ground Radials Vs. Ground Rods
Let's see what happens when the A/B a vertical in the salt marsh operated against ground rods versus ground radials. Will one be stronger than the other?

Phase IV: Phased Verticals in the Salt Marsh
The ultimate situation cited in engineering textbooks, let's see how well a pair of phased verticals work when installed in a salt marsh next to the sea.

Phase V: Does The Skin Effect Matter?
What happens when the ground radial system under 7 MHz phased verticals is submerged under salt water 1" to 3". Is there any improvement in performance? 

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