Good Afternoon fellow hams.
I am Chuck Digby--KB0TOT in the flat lands of the yellow brick road. 

I have been working on discovering what works and what doesn't in the world of antennas. I read what was posted when I found this blog is quite true about what it takes to get on the air. I want to reinforce the fact that your antenna system is the other half of your radio system.

I have discovered that your antenna may have a great SWR ratio but without well-developed ground radials, your radio won't work as well as its full potential. As you can see in the small photo the commercial antenna for VHF high band came with small 1/4 wave-sized wires made to reduce the cost of shipping, but not to provide the best working system. I replaced them with 1/2 wave radials plus 12.5% for a proper tuning match. The antenna is a 5/8 over 5/8 wave co-linear. I have tested this experiment in several different places and found the improvement to be outstanding! I can't exactly tell you how much due to the lack of hams on simplex.

The moral of this story is don't skimp on the radials. 

I have also attached a PDF simplex plan that I would ask you to support but not replace a good working-in-place plan. Today too many local repeaters are being brought into very big mega-linked systems. Not all local communication issue usage is should be on these big linked systems. Simplex in this case is the next best way to operate.

73's 

Chuck Digby  KB0TOT 
913/648-2585 
Masterdowser@...