BUDDIPOLE IN THE FIELD

Buddipole
Beach Antenna
Cookbook
The configurations are identical for the beach verticals and ground
mounted verticals. Radiator lengths, coil settings, and other setup
information does not change just because we move closer to the water.
Similarly, the guidelines and caveats for ground mounted antennas also
apply. For best performance, use a full-sized vertical radiator. If a fullsized
radiator is not possible, make the radiator as long as you can.
Losses from inductive or capacitive reactance, losses through coils,
reduced radiation resistance, and poor matching to the 50 ohms
expected by the radio can reduce current and therefore power in the
antenna system.
The following plots compare the best configurations for each band
deployed over average ground and the waterline of the beach. As seen in
the comparisons, antenna gain increases significantly (resulting from
reduced ground losses), and the takeoff angle drops by the saltwater.
10m
Far field plot for 10m antenna
over average ground
Far field plot for 10m antenna
on the beach
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