Rich

Here is a link to a promotional video produced for WJR, Detroit, showing their efforts to serve listeners with local content and talent.

Confession: I was employed as an FCC-licensed First Class Radiotelephone Operator at WJR in the mid-1960s.

https://archive.org/details/WjrOneOfAKin

Here is a link to a great (IMO) interactive video that can put some perspective in our lives…

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140112.html

The graphic linked below shows the calculated field intensities produced from zero to 5 meters above flat earth from 100 to 1000 meters from the antenna, for the other conditions shown there.

This system might be useful for areas where it is impractical or impossible to use buried conductors as an r-f ground for a vertical monopole.

Even though the two horizontal counterpoise wires used are only three meters long, each, they can provide a lower-loss r-f ground reference than many more wires/rods buried in the earth, especially if the earth at the antenna site has poor conductivity.

This antenna system has no physical connection to the earth.  The transmitter was assumed to be mounted at the junction of the vertical and horizontal conductors, and powered by an on-board battery.

The system in this graphic was modeled for very poor earth conductivity — 1 mS/m, d.c. 5.  But still it can produce a field of ~150 µV/m at a distance of about 0.28 miles.  That field could produce useful reception by many consumer-level AM receivers.

Some study may be needed to understand this topic and graphic, but questions are welcome.