homebuilt ant question

[191145]

I've built this antenna:

SCANNER ANTENNA

Would connecting the ends of all 4 - 20" 'ground plane' elements together (to form a solid box base) improve the antenna's performance, degrade, or make no difference? (using the same copper used for the antenna)

Thanks,

JP

 

[k9rzz]

I don't think you'll notice much affect. It might if you made a solid disc rather than just the four radials. You could try it and report back to us!

 

[prcguy]

No but adding a set of 6" and 3" ground radials for the other bands may improve things. I have a little problem with the design in that the 150MHz element will also act as a fairly low impedance 3/4 wave 450MHz element and at 450MHz the overall impedance could be down to 25ohms.
prcguy