DECEMBER 18, 2018

Outstanding Initial Transmitting Session!

Incredible evening barefoot with 100 Watts. The MFJ Analyzer tells me the 1/4 WL vertical is good for transmitting, which I did not expect; I only put it up to be able to listen to the bands. So I tuned up into it and enjoyed a 7+ hour session on the air from the saltwater marsh using 100 Watts. I worked into Europe until noon, European local time. Thank you everybody for the enormous pile-ups! We're going to have fun from this location. 

When I woke up for work, it was blowing heavily -- gusts coming in from all directions, causing the 1/4 wavelength vertical to dance like a VooDoo Child. I guyed it with parachute cord to insulators to cable ties.

Calm Descends over Salt Marsh
This is the only antenna in use

Not much, but it works great. And, again, that's because of the location; this thing doesn't even have a serious ground radial system, as illustrated below. 

All I got out is four or five of these radials unwound and thrown off the ends of the deck. Since this produces a feedpoint impedance of 66 Ohms, and the optimum 1/4 WL vertical feedpoint impedance being 36 Ohms, that means we got about 50% efficiency with this contraption on the deck. When I deliver 100 Watts to it, the far field gets 50 Watts to sculpt.

What a Mess
Only 4 or 5 counterpoise wires are unrolled
and thrown over the deck railing.

For it is in the far field that the radiation pattern of an antenna is shaped, not the near field immediately surrounding the antenna. And this includes the final take-off angle, which many operators strive to keep low to maximize their signal reports at distant locations. 

When we take a look at the mess underbneath the vertical, above, we realize there are no means to effectively collect return currents emitted by the monopole radiator. Despite this fact, the signal reports being received and sent are astonishing. This is likely because the far field is a saltwater march adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean to the South and a mile to the East. That is the first lesson we are learning in this second phase of our antenna experiments. Should you come across this signal on 40 Meters, remember it is being radiated by an aluminum pole stuck out on the deck with the mess seen above serving as the counterpoise. In a moment we will install the second vertical in the salt marsh and A/B between the two antennas to see if there is any difference. 

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