Antennas like a wire or the one in use for WGCH are a compromise. THey're better than nothing.. and some temporary antennas are better than others. A ground system of any kind will help things a bit but you cant compromise size (1/4 wave for 1490 is around 125-150 feet) with a 10-20 feet antenna and expect great range.
It's like when Dxers talk about recieving antennas, its not just about the radio.. its about the antenna used and the proper accoutrements to go with it. Yo ucan compromise on antenna, but you'll pay for that in worse results.
I was partially involved in the attempted revival of a dormant AM license almost a decade ago. We attempted to use an Isotron AM Antenna from the studio at 250 Watts... well, we let the magic smoke out of the tuning unit and RF got into EVERYTHING.
I know of another AM station normally 10kw day 1kw night thats running 10 watts from a 17 foot tall vertical whip (the model/type isnt specified in the STA) from the roof of it's studio with 10 32 foot groundplane wires. I'd be shocked if it covers the city of license.. but it's there just to keep the license alive since the AM feeds a translator
10 watts wont get much rf into anything 100 watts? Maybe not if you have things shielded well.
It's like when Dxers talk about recieving antennas, its not just about the radio.. its about the antenna used and the proper accoutrements to go with it. Yo ucan compromise on antenna, but you'll pay for that in worse results.
I was partially involved in the attempted revival of a dormant AM license almost a decade ago. We attempted to use an Isotron AM Antenna from the studio at 250 Watts... well, we let the magic smoke out of the tuning unit and RF got into EVERYTHING.
I know of another AM station normally 10kw day 1kw night thats running 10 watts from a 17 foot tall vertical whip (the model/type isnt specified in the STA) from the roof of it's studio with 10 32 foot groundplane wires. I'd be shocked if it covers the city of license.. but it's there just to keep the license alive since the AM feeds a translator
10 watts wont get much rf into anything 100 watts? Maybe not if you have things shielded well.