wrote in message
oups.com...
Is that a joke?

No, in most implementations, ground radials are very much attempting to
simulate a solid, perfectly conducting plane under the antenna. Given
enough of them, they do a reasonably good job.

On another note, why are some of the radials bent to a 45 degree angle
and some are not?

As you go to few and fewer radials, the 'pull' of the 'simulated' ground
becomes 'weaker' in a sense and the radiation pattern of an antenna with
horizontal radials tends to have its maximum at an angle significantly above
the horizontal plane. By angling the radials downward, the radiation
pattern is pulled back downward and the maximum radiation is again more or
less horizontal.

(If you don't like this 'maybe intuitive to me and not at all to you'
explanation, you can simulate an antenna with radials in, e.g., ezNEC and
see what the actual results are...)

---Joel Kolstad