Total posts : 45366
“If I recall correctly the issue with KENC was with the length of the ground conductor which was above ground rather than with buried radials.”
That’s correct. AFAIK, KENC had no ground radials, but the Rangemaster’s ground lead was attached to the mounting tower, 40 ft. high … somewhere around 1/16 wavelength. In effect, it was 40 ft of vertical ground and so was very likely radiating most of the signal, more than the whip antenna. That gave it so much overall gain that it was exceeding the intent of Part 15 regs concerning field strength… not by a little, but by a LOT.
In turn, when the agent discovered it, he measured field strength. If you look at the numbers, it was many times the amount allowed. When Hamilton came up with the filters, it still exceeded the limits, maybe not by much, but by that time, there was so much publicity the FCC had to stand their ground (accidental pun).
I haven’t been able to find a NOUO issued based upon buried ground radial signal contribution.
I believe the FCC has made a distinction between buried ground radials and above ground radials, which constitute a ground plane as part of the intentional radiation, similar to capacitive hat radials. So above ground radials may have to be considered part of the antenna length, either cap hat or ground.
More important, then, is legal RF ground conductivity, which is why I brought up the subject of repositioning the Rangemaster where it was before, if a legal safety ground can be achieved, because the roof and the ocean can both provide much better counterpoise, i.e., not connected, than is likely at the new studio location.
