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Some notes on ground tuning units Ground tuning units are sometimes useful if using a vertical antenna that depends on a counterpoise. The videos below describe the ones I've built.   Pedestrian mobile ground tuning units This is my first ground tuning unit. I made it when developing what became the Wadetenna. The ground tuning unit was used with a trailing radial. Unfortunately the GTU's setting varied with the ground conditions. And the radial was inconvenient for other reasons. So I abandoned that idea in favour of walking in the water with a submerged contact ring. The GTU became an L-match antenna coupler to allow the antenna to work on multiple bands.   Larger ground tuning unit This is my larger ground tuning unit. It's been used during various outings while portable including loading up a light pole on 160m.   Beach vertical antenna with small counterpoise and ground tuning unit Sometimes, especially in a public place, it can be inconvenient to have wire radials. Particularly if you want them to be elevated. One approach is to have a short counterpoise and a ground tuning unit. The results were good as you can see here.   Disclosure: I receive a small commission from items purchased through links on this site. Items were chosen for likely usefulness and a satisfaction rating of 4/5 or better.

Books by VK3YE Ham Radio Get Started (USA) Australian Ham Radio Handbook (Aust) Hand-carried QRP Antennas More Hand-carried QRP Antennas 99 things you can do with Amateur Radio Getting back into Amateur Radio Minimum QRP Illustrated International Ham Radio Dictionary Make your Passion Pay (ebook writing)   All material on this site (c) Peter Parker VK3YE 1997 - 2024. Material may not be reproduced without permission. Read privacy policy.