Antennas requiring ground planes are called ground plane dependent and having an appropriate ground plane can greatly affect performance.
Ham station sheet metal ground plane.
It is possible to simulate this function by replacing the real earth.
Why or when is a ham station ground necessary.
A dependent antenna can become effectively useless without one.
5 we have poorly installed connectors or defective cables.
It is found that for a monopole antenna like a quarter wavelength vertical the ground acts as a plane to reflect the radio waves so that an image of the top half of the antenna is seen in the earth.
Ham gear usually has a ground terminal just for this purpose.
Then connect the bonding strap or pipe to your ac safety ground rod with a heavy wire.
A very large pizza sheet might be around a meter in diameter or iow 50cm in radius.
I guess what i m simply not clear on is how a mag mount antenna s ground plane is connected electrically.
Each time a ground loop is created a small inductive coil is formed the ground wire completes the loop.
The individual station equipments already have their own ground reference but when they are interconnected grounding each equipment to the main ground bus as shown in fig 1 creates ground loops.
Used under and in back of equipment this 1 16 inch thick pre drilled copper sheet creates an rf reference plane that is typically connected to the existing grounding bus.
A ground plane is a reflective metal surface that the signal from an antenna bounces off of to better meet the antenna s design goals.
As the name indicates the antenna ground plane acts as a simulated ground.
Sometimes we set ourselves up for problems without knowing it.
Both of these should result in some level of electrical isolation between the antenna feed shield and the sheet metal.
That s only 05 wavelengths at 30 mhz which is a tiny ground plane.
Consider also that most cars have a coat of paint between the mag mount and the sheet metal.
4 equipment has a design defect.
Ideally you d have a ground plane of around 1 4 wavelength in radius which a pizza sheet can provide on vhf uhf bands but isn t even close on the hf bands.
Copper strap is sold at hardware and roofing stores as flashing.
Dx engineering radio rf ground plane kits provide an effective method of reducing stray rf pickup by equipment and interconnecting cables.
