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Do radials help?

April 26, 2017help radials

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Do radials help?

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Radials added to the ground feed of a loop is supposed to lower Q and raise efficiency (see the ARRL Antenna Book, section 5). I know this sounds anti intuitive, but I have tested this many times and it seems to be the case. The bandwidth of the loop opens up by about 10%, the efficiency seems to be raised (this is indicated by observations I have made in antenna feed arrangement in relation to loss), but I have not noticed improved performance. It would seem to make sense that with higher efficiency there be better performance, but I have not seen a measurable difference. This needs more testing. When possible, I do add radials. Radials do not need to be cut to operating frequency, but can simply be twice the diameter of the loop.