What do you think about a ground plane for a UHF repeater. I remember an 8"± dia. disk that came with the Pacific Crest 35 watt repeater with last company I worked for over a decade ago. We used it a few times then quit. Can't remember why. Laziness probably. I was reading a Ham radio article and it was stressing the importance of a ground plane and instant flashback. Do you use one? How much improvement is there really. For some reason I think we didn't see that much difference but I would have to say we really didn't do any hard testing of on/off at maximum range.
If you have a 1/4 wavelength antenna, then you need a ground plane for sure.
But if you have a 1/2 or end-fed 5/8ths then you don't need a ground plane.
M
Just switched from the 1/4 to the 5/8. Hopefully the range will improve. I bought new from theantennafarm.com which was much cheaper than a survey supply company. Thanks for the info Mark!
