[BC] Franklin MW Antenna Ground Unneeded?

[Richard Fry]

>From what I understand the 1530 in Sacramento was built with
>no ground radials, as the consultant said it did not need any.
__________________

For another point of view, consider that a paper* by Charles L. Jeffers
(then a senior member of the I.R.E.) published in the November, 1948 issue
of the Proceedings of the I.R.E. included field intensity measurements for
the elevation pattern of a real world, reduced scale operating model of the
Franklin type sectionalized MW antenna system used by WOAI in
San Antonio, TX.

Jeffers' paper states that a copper screen wire plane was used as an r-f
ground during these final measurements, and that the measured results
were different than when it wasn't used.

Here is a link to Jeffers' final, measured result:

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h85/rfry-100/Jeffers_Franklin_Elev_Field.gif

 *An Antenna for Controlling the Nonfading Range of Broadcasting Stations

RF