Elsewhere I have described how my metal window frame is a 6-foot section of an indoor outdoor antenna for the SStran3000. On the inside the transmitter resides under a desk with a 2.5-foot antenna up to the base of the metal window frame where it is bolted in place.
Out on the front porch the top of the window frame is bolted to four upward wires that end when the porch roof blocks them, forming a small cage monopole.
Down below I had run a heavy-duty copper ground wire all the way across the basement and uphill 100-feet in the back yard to deliver the signal way up where it had been very weak.
Fast forward to this week, when every day I have noticed my station on the car radio up farther than ever before, and clear for a longer stretch after turning left, way, way up the hill.
Hit pause for the moment of discovery when I noticed that the long ground wire wasn’t even connected, because the jumper cable had been borrowed for a different use.
The wrap up.
Only the normal SStran ground-by-way-of-power connection was in place.
Conclusion: A quote from the Spirit of Part 15, otherwise known as Dog Radio Studio 2 – who said, “Part 15 is mysterious.”
Mysterious
Sounds like somewhere you have a capacitive thing going on which is helping the signal when there is no ground … far from sure, tho’. Could be the house wiring or something is acting as counterpoise. I had that here at the studio back when I first started messing with Part 15 antenna stuff … got my little Spitfire out about 500′ with an old Shakespeare 9′ antenna and no ground. According to that discussion, it could have been rebar rods in the concrete.
I remember crunching tin foil in weird shapes around rabbit ears to get better TV reception. Sometimes it worked, other times it made things worse, still other times … nothing at all. I guess today’s version would be an ironed-flat aluminum foil base reflector for a home-made fractal antenna for digital TV.
I think what it boils down to
I think what it boils down to is that your signal is so small with Part 15, there are all sorts of factors that are called into play. Whereas the big boys use power and huge antennas to just plow through the ether. Theory is all fine and dandy, but as a Part 15 operator you have to try things out until you find something that works for you.
There’s many a time I’ve scratched my head, and could be heard muttering “This should work…” as I try things. I once experimented with a Rangemaster up 25 feet in the air, long ground wire (lightning protection of course) and it performed horribly. As did my multiple radial setup (“It should have worked!”) Where I am now I did a quick and dirty install – I drove a metal mast 4 feet into the ground, put the Rangemaster on top of it, grounding it to the short piece of mast sticking out of the ground, and it works like stink! Probably the soil conductivity (basically, a river floodplain), and the fact that the terrain is either flat or slightly downhill, but who really cares? At the end of the day, I’m getting out and the installation is about as legal as I can make it.
But then, my interest is mainly in the programming and the music. Whatever works is OK with me…
REALITY +
The description is actually exactly the way the Rangemaster should work.
However, if I were you, I’d try radials in addition to what you now have. Ground radials alone will not get the job done. They must be connected to deep ground rods as well.
At least one or maybe two deep (8’+) ground rods at the base, and all the radials bonded together and with the ground rod(s) at the base as well. In addition, the ends of the ground radials should also be bonded, and should have semi-deep (4’+) ground rods at the ends of 4 of them.
That should make as good a ground as you’d need.
ive tried just about everything with my am transmitter
ive tried just about everything with my am transmitter no luck i thought i was just in a bad spot and after the quake landspouts and severe weather i just gave up. ive tried using the doubble ground rods didnt work. i dont have a cellar in my house,not even 5% of the houses in sherman has basements or cellars, yall do up there in kansas and missouri, overall, i think i was in a bad spot to ground the antenna and place the antenna up there
Living Ground
As to my original message up at the top I would also add that I remember clearly what PhilB recently said in suggesting that some of the distance reception incidents are not antenna or ground related, but are cases of power line carrying the signal.
But the situation now, with AMT3000 being grounded only through the walwart power supply, and the exceptional range for several days…. well, the transmitter has been set up this same way for a long time, so what could cause it to go farther all of a sudden?
I am thinking it is a ground thing…. the ground has been so dry that there are giant cracks opened up all over the ground. Then it rained. But not much rain.
I also remember that when a deep frozen ice surface gripped the area during the winter, the signal went all over the place…. I imagined that maybe it was “skating the surface” like some natural acting ground plane.
Ken Norris’ description of greatly enhancing a radial installation by implanting several ground rods, describes to me what I view as a “lowering of impedance,” that is, “lowering resistance” between the ground and the electrical signal, which is very desirable, as many have said.
This whole discussion reminds me of having read somewhere that for areas that have poor electrical ground conditions, it is possible to improve the “bonding” between a ground rod and the earth by packing the hole with certain chemicals or mixtures. That information would be worth finding, because it might help ABMedia1 with the ground problems in his location.
it would be worth finding out
it would be worth finding out for me espically to find why my ground is so bad in west central grayson county, sherman is right along the line of dry grasslands west texas and southwestern oklahoma right along the chickashaw nation, and the caddo national grasslands in northeast texas and southeastern oklahoma in the choctaw/cherokee nation, with sherman and southmayd being along these 2 condition grassland lines could that be the reason the ground is different in parts of sherman hencing the bad coverage for my AM Station?
FInd a well
Where are the water sources for the area of Andrew’s station? If you can find something deep enough to pull water up, it’s probably also deep enough for ground. A pipe coming from a well head should work well.
Also, don’t forget one very important thing: When you have established a good ground, the system will need to be critically re-tuned to resonance. Where it was before probably won’t work.
Clue # 1
I found one link to the subject of GROUND CONDUCTIVITY, which tells us what we already know, but it has a further link to FCC ground conductivity maps by region which might be informative.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_conductivity
Another round for the ground bound
Additional copies of the FCC ground conductivity map are here:
http://part15.us/node/70
Also check out:
Good Ground is Hard to Find
Joe Carr’s Radio Tech-Notes – What is a “Good Ground?”
The How Big, How Long and How Many of Ground Radials
There are 3 wells but not in my location
there 3 wells in grayson county, 2 in southmayd, and 1 at the Sherman country club, north of southmayd city limits. but those are the only wells in grayson county, texas there but there are privately owned. but ive probably spent $150 try to get the AM Station Going, after the Tioga Quake, the December dension/collinsville landspouts, my am transmitter died and i haven’t looked back on the AM Dial Since. but when i get the more money ill try to get back on the am dial and investigate.
The Great Seal of The State of Ground..
I used to live in Odessa…Ector county…and let me just say that ground conductivity in Texas is not the best in the world..especially in west Texas where the ground is packed with caleche…a very hard substance with very little conductivity. Chances are that it is ground conductivity causing the problems with the AM side of things for you in Grayson county.
Sometimes that layer of caleche can be found a few inches below the surface poof dirt, and sometimes it can be more than 10 feet below the surface. It varies quite a bit from one location to another. Remember that several eons ago, that entire state..well including much of the entire continent, was nothing but a massive water bed with only the mountains sticking up like islands. Familiar with White Sands National Park? Right next door to my home town near HAFB. That gypsum sand deposit was formed by a massive body of water eons ago and the sand is what is left after the water evaporated. Another very difficult area in as far as ground conductivity. Texas is about the same. It is understandable since you can find a lot of fossils and petrified wood pieces in the ground out there..some carbon dating as far back as a couple million years.
Just ask any oil drilling crew how many diamond tipped bits they go through just to punch through that layer of caleche. Once they get through that almost tougher than rock layer, they use normal bits because the ground after the layer of caleche is very soft and moist…but that usually ends up being 2,000 feet or more down!!!
I don’t think there is a ground rod of that much length!
Hey…maybe you have an oil rig nearby and can sneak a ground wire over to it and connect to the metal base of the pump jack. If your lucky, you will have a nice and very deep ground rod actually making contact with that soft moist ground layer below……just a thought. 😉
RFB