Interesting... although while I'd certainly believe that, as far as
Georbe Brown could tell in 1938 two radials performed just as well as
four radials, I'd imagine that there is a measurable and simulatable
different between the two systems!
(Hmm... I know... how about... three! ground radials? :-) )
Actually, for decades, I have built and used 3 radial ground plane
antennas for 2M and for 440. I simply used brass welding rods and SO-
239 connectors to construct them. The reason I used 3 radials.... I too
was under the misconception that 4 were best, but I had a slight
difficulty adding the 4th radials to my SO-239s so I stuck with three.
Incidently, I found the best 50 ohm match was made when I bent the
radials down about 45 degrees. They worked extremely well when properly
tuned and stood up to some pretty heavy weather, too.
Ed
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