ml wrote:
hi

I was wondering a few things i read about in my sgc tuner manual about
dipoles


a) they say or sorta recomend that if your making a simple horiz ctr fed
dipole, it's 'best' to have one leg longer

why is that 'a good idea' what happens that makes this sorta advisable


b) they recomend the longer leg to be the rf 'ground'' side , really
confused as to why, my gut would tell me to make the hot side the
longest leg so i am confused



can anyone help me understand the above, i kinda understand how the wave
looks on a regular horizontal ctr fed dipole is


That suggestion does not make very much sense.

First, a ground isn't a "better ground" just because it is longer. The
lowest impedance and "best" ground or counterpoise occurs when the
ground is exactly resonant.

Second, the least common mode current is influenced heavily by the
length of the feeder, and is often the least when a dipole antenna is
evenly balanced.

The only possible reason for that is to moderate the impedance
presented by the antenna, but again that would also take special
consideration of the feedline length.

Even a 1/4 wl groundplane does not improve from radials longer than 1/4
wl. As a matter of fact it often gets worse.

Maybe you should ask them why they want customers to do that. It sounds
like witchcraft to me.

73 Tom