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NSARC 1 20 April 2010

HF OPS
ELEVATED VERTICALS
by
John White
VA7JW
20 April 2010
Revised version of 25 March 2010 Presentation
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NSARC 2 20 April 2010
VERTI CAL ANTENNA
! Quarter wave vertical radiator
! Feed point is at lower end
! Coax connects to the radiator
and a ground plane
! Ground plane can be either Earth or horizontal wires
" assumes earth is conductive, more later
ARRL Antenna Handbook
Quarter Wave
Vertical Radiator
Feed Point
Ground Plane
Wires or Earth
Coax
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NSARC 3 20 April 2010
GROUND PLANE
! Vertical must operate against a ground plane
! Ground plane provides the missing lower quarter of
a half wave antenna
ARRL Antenna Handbook
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NSARC 4 20 April 2010
GROUND PLANE I MAGE
! Earth acts as a mirror
creating an image
! Wire Radial system simulates
earth (better)
! Quarter wave radiator + quarter wave image equals a
half wave antenna
! Vertical assumes properties of a vertical dipole but at
half the physical height
ARRL Antenna Handbook
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NSARC 5 20 April 2010
RADI ATI ON PATTERN
! Radiation is off the side
" Vertical plot
" Typical max at 25

over real ground

" Radiation at 0 is attenuated
! No radiation off ends
" Zero straight up (and down)
! Equal radiation all around
" Azimuthal plot
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NSARC 6 20 April 2010
VERTI CAL PLOT
! Plot shows signal strength
as a function of the vertical angle
! Amplitude of the wave
indicates strength of signal
! Maximum at about 25
! Radiation at ~ 0 is nil due to absorption of signal as it
travels over surface of earth, and direct reflected wave
phase cancellation at low angles.
GROUND
MAX
Ground
Absorption
No radiation of end of antenna
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NSARC 7 20 April 2010
GROUND REFLECTI ON
! When an antenna is raised above the surface of the earth,
downward radiation from the antenna travels towards earth
! True for both dipoles and elevated verticals
! When this radiation strikes the surface it is reflected upwards
! The direct radiation from the antenna combines with the
reflected ground radiation at distance (in the far field)
! Depending on radiation angles, the far field direct and
reflected radiation will be in phase and ADD to produce a
LOBE, (max radiation) or be 180 out of phase and CANCEL to
produce a NULL (no radiation)
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NSARC 8 20 April 2010
HORI ZONTAL ANTENNAS
! Dipoles are commonly horizontally mounted antennas
! Electric Field is Horizontally polarized
! Direct and reflected radiation combine in the far field to
produce familiar elevation patterns depending on
antenna height above ground
! Horizontally polarized ground reflected waves undergo
a phase shift of ~ 180
ARRL Antenna Handbook
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NSARC 9 20 April 2010
VERTI CAL ANTENNAS
! Vertical antennas radiate Vertically polarized Electric field
! Similarly, Direct and Reflected radiation also combine in the
far field to produce elevation patterns depending on the
height of the vertical above ground.
! Vertically polarized, ground reflected waves, above ~ 30 do
NOT undergo a phase shift. Below 30, phase shift starts to
change from 0 thru to 180.
! The patterns are NOT the same since vertically polarized
waves reflect differently than horizontally polarized waves
ARRL Antenna Handbook
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NSARC 10 20 April 2010
PATTERN COMPARI SONS
! Horizontal antenna at various heights above ground
! Vertical antenna at various heights above ground
ARRL Antenna Handbook
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NSARC 11 20 April 2010
NOTABLE DI FFERENCES
! Dipole has strong vertical lobe at quarter wave heights
" Good NVIS (Near Vertical Incident Skywave) antenna
" Height < ~ 0.25 ! to ensure a high angle of radiation to cover areas up to
1000 km
! Vertical has NO vertical component at any height
! Not much difference if both horizontal and vertical antennas
are 1 ! high
! DX antennas want to have lowest possible angle of radiation
to maximize skip distance to 3000 km.
" Choice heights are multiples of 0.5 !
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NSARC 12 20 April 2010
VERTI CAL CONSI DERATI ONS
! Vertical antennas have NO 90
o
angle of radiation
! Optimum low angle 10 to 20
! Good for DX, no good for NVIS
! Good for Direct Line Of Sight and Ground Wave use
! Omni-directional not so good for DX; directional gain is desirable
! Verticals are susceptible to noise.
" noise is vertically polarized since horizontally propagated noise in the
urban environment is rapidly attenuated over ground
" omni directional hears noise from all directions
" Buried radials couple in ground currents and contribute to noise
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NSARC 13 20 April 2010
FEED POI NT I MPEDANCE
! Quarter wave verticals have the feed point impedance of
half wave dipoles
" as antennas become shorter, feed point impedance becomes less
! Z = 37.5" rather than 75"
! Feed point impedance model
! Losses appear in series with Radiation wire resistance,
earth losses, loading coil resistance, etc
! Resistive earth losses can easily be much greater than
radiation resistance giving << 50 % efficiency.
R
radiation
R
losses
Coax
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NSARC 14 20 April 2010
GROUND vs WI RE RADI ALS
! March 2010 QST An Experimental Look at Ground
Systems for HF Verticals Rudy Severns K6LF
! Some results for wave radials,
" If burying radials, need up to 120 (broadcast standards)
" If radials lie on ground fewer needed; 32 typical
" If radials are raised off the ground by 48, 4 are as good
! Efficiencies improve with radials out of the ground.
! Raised radials not so easy to implement
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NSARC 15 20 April 2010
EZNEC MODELS
! What if the Vertical antenna with Radials is raised
significantly above earth ground ?
! Example - 20 metre vertical with 4 ground plane radials
! Modeled at various heights above ground
" 1 foot Radials not buried or laid on ground
" 0.25 ! ~ 17 feet
" 0.5 ! ~ 34 feet
" 0.75 ! ~ 51 feet
" 1.0 ! ~ 68 feet
! Investigate elevation plots
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NSARC 16 20 April 2010
20m VERTI CAL at GROUND
! EZNEC Plots
Antenna View
with Currents
1 foot above ground
SWR
AZ
PLOT
EL PLOT
Max low angle
at 25
Feed point Impedance 34 "
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NSARC 17 20 April 2010
20m VERTI CAL at 0.25 !
! EZNEC Plots
SWR
AZ PLOT
unchanged
EL PLOT,
Low angle lobe
lowered to 20
Feed point Impedance
Rising to 58 " due
to sloping radials
Antenna View,
Raised 0.25 !
Radials are sloped
down 45
Could double as guy
wires
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NSARC 18 20 April 2010
20m VERTI CAL at 0.5 !
! EZNEC Plots
Antenna View,
Raised 0.5 !
Radials are sloped
down 45
Feed point Impedance
52 "
AZ PLOT
unchanged
SWR
EL PLOT,
High angle lobe at 50
Low angle at 15
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NSARC 19 20 April 2010
20m VERTI CAL at 0.75 !
! EZNEC Plots
Antenna View,
Raised 0.75!
Radials are sloped
down 45
SWR
Feed point Impedance
52 "
AZ PLOT
unchanged
EL PLOT,
High angle at 35
Lowest angle at 10
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NSARC 20 20 April 2010
20m VERTI CAL at 1 !
! EZNEC Plots
Antenna View,
Raised 1!
Radials are sloped
down 45
SWR
Feed point Impedance
51 "
AZ PLOT
unchanged
EL PLOT,
High angle Lobes at
25 and 60
Lowest angle at 10
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NSARC 21 20 April 2010
OBSERVATI ONS
! 4 raised radials provide a good ground plane
! Elevating the vertical system lowers lowest lobe and develops
higher lobes. BONUS for wide skip coverage.
! Ideal for Short and Long Skip
! Feed Point impedance rises to meet 50" coax no tuner needed
! Omni directionality unchanged
! Not suitable for NVIS (vertical radiation suppressed all cases)
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NSARC 22 20 April 2010
MOUNTI NG CONSI DERATI ONS
! At 20 metres, antenna dimensions
" 16 feet vertical radiator
" 16 foot radials, 4 wires
! Antenna height, ~ 34 feet to feed point
! 20 low lobe for DX
" Would require 65 ft tower to achieve with yagi
! 50 high lobe for short skip
! Use radials as guy wires for support structure.
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NSARC 23 20 April 2010
METAL SUPPORT
STRUCTURE DETUNI NG ?
! Insignificant. Metal support structure is isolated by
quarter wave radials
Antenna View,
Raised 0.5 !
Radials are sloped
down 45 assumed
acting as guy wires
Vertical support
conductor added
SWR
Feed point Impedance
51 "
AZ PLOT
unchanged
EL PLOT
Unchanged
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NSARC 24 20 April 2010
CONCLUSI ONS
! Elevated Vertical may be a good choice for 20/15/10m HF
Bands in restricted area city lots
! No too high 34 ft, not too wide, not too obtrusive
" Rooftop mounting; lay radials on roof, guys required
! Good radiation angles for North America and DX
! Not too expensive
! Multi band verticals OK
" i.e. 10m at 34 feet elevation plot would look like 1 ! at 20m