Hello fellow Ham ops
I have assembled the MA160V by Cushcraft. It's one of those short miracle antennas.
Only this dessign is top loaded with a capacity hat. The length of the radiating element is 28 feet tall.
The problem is with the ground radial system. I have a total of 22 radials and an Earth ground connection and I am seeing on the MFJ 259 2.5:1 SWR with an R sub S reading of 23 ohms and an X sub S of 8.
Someone please explain the R sub S and the X sub S. I'm wild ass guessing Series Resistance?
And X sub S is some sort of reactance. The manual is not very clear
OK I started experimenting as Cushcraft recommends: I removed the Earth ground and 9 of the radials and have the perfect match of 1.5:1 SWR and R sub S of 40 and X sub S of 6.
I woulkd hate to think that another lossy tuning network has to be designed into this thing to give me the match I'm looking for. Cushcraft says that a "robust" radial system would make the antenna perform more effeciently. I'm guessing that it would start having the characteristics of a real vertical, which is around 30 ohms, if memory is serving me. Cushcraft says that a matching transformer or a unuun(?) (A fixed ratio) would help match the transmitter to the antenna.
I'm hoping someone out here has some ideas how to make this a nice working system. I wouldn't mind experimenting with a fixed transformer for matching rather than an adjustable L network.
THanks
Fred
