Great video again. I may be able to add another perspective. Yes, noise can be vertically or horizontally polarized. Noise is simply an electromagnetic waves the same as the desired signals we transmit and receive so antennas receive noise just as if it was any old radio signal. However, vertically polarized noise will propagate better along the ground because its E component is perpendicular to the earth whereas if the E component was horizontal it would not, so to speak, hug the ground. There is reference to this in many antenna books. So if there are several noise sources in a neighbors house, all other things being equal, those sources that emit a vertically polarized signal will be heard farthest and strongest and picked up best because the vertical responds best to vertically polarized signals from a low angle. The only way to not hear noise is by placing that noise in an antennas null or use an antenna with the opposite polarization. That’s what I have done with Beverage antennas on 160 through 40 meters. Actually I usually use Beverages on the ground as I do not have room for full size conventional Beverages. Most people don’t know that a Beverage is essentially a vertical antenna even though it is a horizontal wire! I had great success with a short 100 ft BOG ( Beverage on Ground) on the 40 meter band. Another solution to noise is to transmit on the vertical and listen on a horizontal wire. 73 de N4DJ
I’ve often thought about trying a vertical TX horizontal RX solution for this reason. Is there a nice easy product that switches antenna based on a PTT signal, or is more of a DIY solution needed?
@@jebonicus It depends on your rig. I use an Elecraft K3 that has a receive antenna jack. So I just push the receiver antenna button and the switching is internal to the K3. Before that I used a Ten Tec OMNI VI + and it also had a receive antenna jack so that was easy also. If your rig does not have a receive antenna jack, you will need a relay to switch from the receive antenna to the transmitter antenna when you key the transmitter. One of my old rigs had power available to switch such a relay. I think someone makes such a box but can’t remember who right now. The big thing is timing. You do not want RF coming out of the rig before the relay closes! DX engineering is the first place I would check. The next time you get a rig you may want to get one that does it already. I went from separate Transmitter / receiver units directly to the OMNI 6+ so never had to deal with the issue.
I think you should raise the base of that antenna as high as possible up the mounting post. The post should not overlap. I think some noise comes from resistance in bad mast connections. One thing that can be buried is stainless steel chicken wire. In a damp location near the mast if possible but I would just use this as a static drain. I do indeed prefer raised verticals whenever possible. Another trick to try but with horizontal antenna is to have both elements equal distances from the ground and surrounding objects. It should be balanced and the fact it's balanced should help. If it's well tuned you may notice less noise around the resonant point but no dip in incoming signals around this point. I've toyed in the past with insulated masts for verticals but it was a long time ago. Some antenna work fine on an insulated mast if they are well balanced but you need to take more care protecting the radio against static. You can run a separate grounding cable from the back of the radio equipment to a grounding rod or from the coax shield as it enters the house to a grounding rod. An ugly balun choke might be worth a try or just trying different verticals till you find one that is less noisy. Many have several antenna to try different ones for receive. We all love the experimentation. Keep up the good work.
hello Peter great video as always. I've built a vertical 17.5 ft driven element and same length gw4 on the radial loaded with a 4.1 un un. gives me 20 15 10mtrs with the tuner, this is where your idea comes in, the bottom of the antenna is 23ft off the floor. I have the radial only 1 at a 45 deg angle from the un un. wow it works a treat less noise and better on transmit, also if i change the direction of the radial it works well so thank you peter for the idea, 1st call on 20mtrs I spoke to a k4 he was getting me a 5/8 with 65 watts, once again thanks for the antenna ideas mike GW4
Very informative video Peter. Main thing is experimentation in the field, not on a computer, and definitely, ants in different locations, behave differently. My 40m vert is noisey, 20m vert quiet. On 40m I use my vert on tx, and a 40m dipole at fence height for rx. 73 zl3xdj.
Hi Peter, The general consensus is that on MF and HF ground wave propagated signals suffer much heavier attenuation if horizontally polarized versus vertically polarized and in all my years of hunting sources of RFI on MF and HF I have to agree with this theory and I believe this explains why we often say verticals are noisier than horizontal antennas on MF/HF as most of the local generated noise that reaches our RX antenna are predominantly vertically polarized (due to the heavy attenuation of horizontally polarized signals that are locally generated). My EFHW that is mounted horizontally 20 feet above ground with a good choke 0.05 wavelengths down from the feedpoint often can’t hear any of the local noise I can hear on 4 different vertical antennas that I have (3 of which are dedicated receive antennas). I also have portable MF and HF direction finding antennas and it’s amazing how much lower the noise floor typically is when I orient them for horizontal polarization versus vertical polarization. You will also see folks that use the Waller Flag RX antenna have greatly improved signal to noise ratio when they mount it horizontal versus vertical and they attribute that to local nose that’s predominantly vertically polarized not being received as well when the antenna is mounted horizontally. Also while typing my response to you I ran outside and oriented my Portable RX Flag antenna horizontally and vertically while listening on 40 and 80 meters and my local noise floor (middle of the afternoon) was definitely lower when the antenna was oriented horizontally. I also witnessed firsthand power line noise about a mile from N4TZ that could not be heard on his 3 element 40 meter horizontal beam but the RFI was something like 20 dB over S9 on his vertical receive array (truly amazing and I would have never believed it if I were not there to witness it). We could not detect any power line noise when listening on his 40 meter beam regardless what direction the beam was pointed. I could also easily hear this power line noise while standing in his yard with my vertically orientated portable flag antenna and that's what we used to track down the source of the RFI along with VHF direction finding gear as we got close to the faulty pole. On MF and HF I truly believe one tool we have to help deal with locally generated noise are horizontally polarized antennas or dedicated RX antennas that are horizontally polarized. I operate almost exclusively 160 meters where having dedicated RX antennas is very beneficial but now I'm very interested in having RX antennas that are horizontally polarized whereas my dedicated RX antennas are vertically polarized. Just FYI and 73, Don wd8dsb
Hi Don, yes I agree with your findings. I operate on the higher HF bands and there is around 12dB increase in noise with my vertical compared with my horizontal dipole - even when only 25ft above the ground.
From experience my DX Commander Classic is much noiser than my EFHW around a wood fence about 5ft off the ground. But, and there's always a but, the DX Commander can hear stations my EFHW can't hear. I am in a high noise floor enviroment so I deal with it the best I can. Several years ago while creating a 20M dipole and 40M dipole I put one leg of the dipole up on a fiberglass pole and extended the other leg about 2 or 3 feet off the ground. I was surprised that both worked much better than expected. I even took the 20M version out and did a FT8 POTA activation with it. Simple antennas that work great.
Another timely video, Peter - thank you! I’m in the early stages of planning a new shack, moving from my basement to a nearby shed. I’ve been thinking about putting up a vertical to Aug,ent my 80m horizontal loop. I borrowed a portable vertical from my ham club to give it a test and found no difference in noise between the loop and the vertical. Thank you for confirming my findings! I live in a rural area and my nearest neighbour is 100m away. I like the idea of the raised radials but will have to think about the location of the antenna to avoid any conflict with my XYL!
Thanks for posting Peter, a very interesting and thought provoking video. To me, it stands to reason that if a vertical tends to receive and radiate at low angles then in an urban environment where the noise source is in the near field located horizontally you will likely suffer from more noise than you would with a horizontal antenna receiving at generally higher angles. Having said that I don’t have any real world experience to back that up as I very rarely suffer any noise because I operate exclusively portable or mobile. I get as far away from urban environments as possible, often next to saltwater where the performance of verticals (with elevated radials) never ceases to amaze me.
You stole my thunder, You are right on, horizontal antennas usually suffer less from noise because of their higher angle of radiation than a typical vertical antenna where its lower radiation puts the usual noise sources in its near field. Better radial system can make it even more susceptible to noise because of less ground loss.
This all seems in line with my experience with vertical antennas over the years. The quietest vertical I ever heard was at my ham radio mentor's house when I was growing up. He had a trap vertical mounted in an elevated position with tuned radials, though I don't recall the exact configuration of these (it's been a while). I'm still wanting to try a few (somewhat elevated radials) on my ground-mounted vertical which does seem to suffer from some noise -- especially on days when it's scorching hot and all the air conditioners in the neighborhood are running full bore. My issue, as always, is space and XYL endorsement for said project.
Another great video thanks Peter. IMO horizontal antennas usually suffer less from noise because of their higher angle of radiation than a typical vertical antenna where its lower radiation puts the usual noise sources in its near field. A better radial system can make it even more susceptible to noise because of several db less of ground loss.
As always verticals with coils of any kind in them are a compromise especially ones significantly less than a 1/4 wave length like the 4BTV. In my experience it’s better to put up a full size vertical for 20m or higher band and use bits of wire for 40m and below, even 10m of wire up to a tree / fence with 10m laying on the ground works well. Oh and mount the vertical 2m 6ft ish above the ground with 3 + radials.
My Elmer who held a couple of different commercial antenna licenses always told me it was because noise tends to me more vertically polarized. Why that may be? No idea.
I had a butternut vertical a few years back. I had mine earthed to the mounting pole for lightening protection, the pole was earthed as well. And about 10 buried radials. It all helped to reduce noise but it was never quiet. I suspect Peter has done much the same thing.
I always thought: why not use a vertical with elevated radial (which is more or less symmetrical) and it with open line feeder. Then your antenna can be matched with a symm. Matching unit (i.e. ATU) and you could match other bands as well? Never see one doing this.. always baluns and coax..
That is an „Up and Outer“. It will work as multiband antenna. Length of the two (random) wires must be determined by the lowest band. Just be careful that the feedline is not touching the ground. 73 de Chris
Yes sure! And of course the total length of the radiating wires + the open line feeders determines the impedance at the end of your feeders. So your symmetrical matching unit must be able to match al those different impedances @@DL1GKC
@@pa3byw For impedance purposes, you'd probably want the open wire feeder to be off-centre fed in the vertical/radial system. In fact, Walt, Coastal Waves and Wires, once played with an off centre fed vertical.
Hello Peter, vy niice video and consideration about radials. Ive an home made quarter wave for 40m with 2 elevated radials at abt 16m from the ground on the roof of my house. The performance are better compared ground radials. In the past I ve done some test in the mountains even with elevated radials, the sistem is much more quiet than the urban area. So i can confirm that vertical antenna are noisy? Depends were are installed. 73 Mauri iz2mgn
If the buried radials pick up more noise in a vertical antenna system because they exist in the same space as the local man made noise otherwise known as "in the ground wave", then why does the Loop On Ground receive antenna reject the same noise in the same plane? Also conversely, why does the radial on the vertical reject ground plane man made noise when elevated, but the loop antenna when elevated to the same point, increases man made local noise sensitivity? Other antennas with buried radials are also not necessarily noisy to man made sources. It must be a more complex relationship than simply the location of the antenna in respect to the earth to cause opposite reactions in different antennas with change only to a single variable. In my experience, even a ground plane vertical with elevated radials is still pretty noisy. It makes more sense to agree with the vertical polarization of noise even though that concept doesn't appear to be ironclad, it is more documented.
Hi Mike. Back in the 60s almost all verticals were known as GP antennas and had elevated radials. In most cases the whole antenna was well above ground.
It is very simple. A symmetrical Dipole with balun ist quit, because NO common mode noice. Vertikal antennas do not compensate the common mode noice. They are noicy!
Question: Doesn’t the vertical piece of aluminum on which your 4BTV antenna is mounted (using U-bolts) interfere with the operation of the antenna? Since the short aluminum piece extends past the bottom of the antenna element does it not constitute a capacitance in parallel with the first few inches of the antenna-and therefore a disruption of the theoretical 35 ohm base impedance? One can make the case that since aluminum “shorting capacitor,” if you will, is indeed short it has little or no effect on the antenna current or the current distribution. But cannot one also argue that the existence of a current maximum at the bottom of the antenna should make that capacitance to ground significant?
The point of maximum current is at the feed point. As you raise an quarter wave antenna above ground the point of maximum current is always at the feed point assuming the radials are resonant and attached at feed point.
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Great video again. I may be able to add another perspective. Yes, noise can be vertically or horizontally polarized. Noise is simply an electromagnetic waves the same as the desired signals we transmit and receive so antennas receive noise just as if it was any old radio signal. However, vertically polarized noise will propagate better along the ground because its E component is perpendicular to the earth whereas if the E component was horizontal it would not, so to speak, hug the ground. There is reference to this in many antenna books.
So if there are several noise sources in a neighbors house, all other things being equal, those sources that emit a vertically polarized signal will be heard farthest and strongest and picked up best because the vertical responds best to vertically polarized signals from a low angle. The only way to not hear noise is by placing that noise in an antennas null or use an antenna with the opposite polarization. That’s what I have done with Beverage antennas on 160 through 40 meters. Actually I usually use Beverages on the ground as I do not have room for full size conventional Beverages. Most people don’t know that a Beverage is essentially a vertical antenna even though it is a horizontal wire! I had great success with a short 100 ft BOG ( Beverage on Ground) on the 40 meter band. Another solution to noise is to transmit on the vertical and listen on a horizontal wire.
73 de N4DJ
Many thanks for the additional data. I am sure others will enjoy reading it.
I’ve often thought about trying a vertical TX horizontal RX solution for this reason. Is there a nice easy product that switches antenna based on a PTT signal, or is more of a DIY solution needed?
@@jebonicus It depends on your rig. I use an Elecraft K3 that has a receive antenna jack. So I just push the receiver antenna button and the switching is internal to the K3. Before that I used a Ten Tec OMNI VI + and it also had a receive antenna jack so that was easy also. If your rig does not have a receive antenna jack, you will need a relay to switch from the receive antenna to the transmitter antenna when you key the transmitter. One of my old rigs had power available to switch such a relay. I think someone makes such a box but can’t remember who right now. The big thing is timing. You do not want RF coming out of the rig before the relay closes! DX engineering is the first place I would check. The next time you get a rig you may want to get one that does it already. I went from separate Transmitter / receiver units directly to the OMNI 6+ so never had to deal with the issue.
I think you should raise the base of that antenna as high as possible up the mounting post. The post should not overlap. I think some noise comes from resistance in bad mast connections. One thing that can be buried is stainless steel chicken wire. In a damp location near the mast if possible but I would just use this as a static drain. I do indeed prefer raised verticals whenever possible. Another trick to try but with horizontal antenna is to have both elements equal distances from the ground and surrounding objects. It should be balanced and the fact it's balanced should help.
If it's well tuned you may notice less noise around the resonant point but no dip in incoming signals around this point.
I've toyed in the past with insulated masts for verticals but it was a long time ago. Some antenna work fine on an insulated mast if they are well balanced but you need to take more care protecting the radio against static. You can run a separate grounding cable from the back of the radio equipment to a grounding rod or from the coax shield as it enters the house to a grounding rod.
An ugly balun choke might be worth a try or just trying different verticals till you find one that is less noisy. Many have several antenna to try different ones for receive. We all love the experimentation. Keep up the good work.
hello Peter great video as always. I've built a vertical 17.5 ft driven element and same length gw4 on the radial loaded with a 4.1 un un. gives me 20 15 10mtrs with the tuner, this is where your idea comes in, the bottom of the antenna is 23ft off the floor. I have the radial only 1 at a 45 deg angle from the un un. wow it works a treat less noise and better on transmit, also if i change the direction of the radial it works well so thank you peter for the idea, 1st call on 20mtrs I spoke to a k4 he was getting me a 5/8 with 65 watts, once again thanks for the antenna ideas mike GW4
Great to hear from you Mike. Enjoy the fun.
Very informative video Peter. Main thing is experimentation in the field, not on a computer, and definitely, ants in different locations, behave differently.
My 40m vert is noisey, 20m vert quiet.
On 40m I use my vert on tx, and a 40m dipole at fence height for rx.
73 zl3xdj.
TY Peter ill try only one radial instead of what i have now ,and ill raise it. your experience is teaching us all. cheers 73
Hi Peter,
The general consensus is that on MF and HF ground wave propagated signals suffer much heavier attenuation if horizontally polarized versus vertically polarized and in all my years of hunting sources of RFI on MF and HF I have to agree with this theory and I believe this explains why we often say verticals are noisier than horizontal antennas on MF/HF as most of the local generated noise that reaches our RX antenna are predominantly vertically polarized (due to the heavy attenuation of horizontally polarized signals that are locally generated).
My EFHW that is mounted horizontally 20 feet above ground with a good choke 0.05 wavelengths down from the feedpoint often can’t hear any of the local noise I can hear on 4 different vertical antennas that I have (3 of which are dedicated receive antennas). I also have portable MF and HF direction finding antennas and it’s amazing how much lower the noise floor typically is when I orient them for horizontal polarization versus vertical polarization. You will also see folks that use the Waller Flag RX antenna have greatly improved signal to noise ratio when they mount it horizontal versus vertical and they attribute that to local nose that’s predominantly vertically polarized not being received as well when the antenna is mounted horizontally. Also while typing my response to you I ran outside and oriented my Portable RX Flag antenna horizontally and vertically while listening on 40 and 80 meters and my local noise floor (middle of the afternoon) was definitely lower when the antenna was oriented horizontally.
I also witnessed firsthand power line noise about a mile from N4TZ that could not be heard on his 3 element 40 meter horizontal beam but the RFI was something like 20 dB over S9 on his vertical receive array (truly amazing and I would have never believed it if I were not there to witness it). We could not detect any power line noise when listening on his 40 meter beam regardless what direction the beam was pointed. I could also easily hear this power line noise while standing in his yard with my vertically orientated portable flag antenna and that's what we used to track down the source of the RFI along with VHF direction finding gear as we got close to the faulty pole.
On MF and HF I truly believe one tool we have to help deal with locally generated noise are horizontally polarized antennas or dedicated RX antennas that are horizontally polarized. I operate almost exclusively 160 meters where having dedicated RX antennas is very beneficial but now I'm very interested in having RX antennas that are horizontally polarized whereas my dedicated RX antennas are vertically polarized.
Just FYI and 73, Don wd8dsb
Hi Don, yes I agree with your findings. I operate on the higher HF bands and there is around 12dB increase in noise with my vertical compared with my horizontal dipole - even when only 25ft above the ground.
I live in a built up area and have used a vertical that's mounted at ground level for a couple of years . Its not ideal but its definitely not noisy .
From experience my DX Commander Classic is much noiser than my EFHW around a wood fence about 5ft off the ground. But, and there's always a but, the DX Commander can hear stations my EFHW can't hear. I am in a high noise floor enviroment so I deal with it the best I can. Several years ago while creating a 20M dipole and 40M dipole I put one leg of the dipole up on a fiberglass pole and extended the other leg about 2 or 3 feet off the ground. I was surprised that both worked much better than expected. I even took the 20M version out and did a FT8 POTA activation with it. Simple antennas that work great.
Thanks for sharing.
Another timely video, Peter - thank you! I’m in the early stages of planning a new shack, moving from my basement to a nearby shed. I’ve been thinking about putting up a vertical to Aug,ent my 80m horizontal loop. I borrowed a portable vertical from my ham club to give it a test and found no difference in noise between the loop and the vertical. Thank you for confirming my findings! I live in a rural area and my nearest neighbour is 100m away. I like the idea of the raised radials but will have to think about the location of the antenna to avoid any conflict with my XYL!
Thanks for posting Peter, a very interesting and thought provoking video.
To me, it stands to reason that if a vertical tends to receive and radiate at low angles then in an urban environment where the noise source is in the near field located horizontally you will likely suffer from more noise than you would with a horizontal antenna receiving at generally higher angles. Having said that I don’t have any real world experience to back that up as I very rarely suffer any noise because I operate exclusively portable or mobile. I get as far away from urban environments as possible, often next to saltwater where the performance of verticals (with elevated radials) never ceases to amaze me.
You stole my thunder, You are right on, horizontal antennas usually suffer less from noise because of their higher angle of radiation than a typical vertical antenna where its lower radiation puts the usual noise sources in its near field. Better radial system can make it even more susceptible to noise because of less ground loss.
This all seems in line with my experience with vertical antennas over the years. The quietest vertical I ever heard was at my ham radio mentor's house when I was growing up. He had a trap vertical mounted in an elevated position with tuned radials, though I don't recall the exact configuration of these (it's been a while).
I'm still wanting to try a few (somewhat elevated radials) on my ground-mounted vertical which does seem to suffer from some noise -- especially on days when it's scorching hot and all the air conditioners in the neighborhood are running full bore. My issue, as always, is space and XYL endorsement for said project.
Another great video thanks Peter. IMO horizontal antennas usually suffer less from noise because of their higher angle of radiation than a typical vertical antenna where its lower radiation puts the usual noise sources in its near field. A better radial system can make it even more susceptible to noise because of several db less of ground loss.
Interesting! Thanks Peter. 73, Mike, M0MTJ
Interesting info. I haven't heard about that before with the radials.🍺🤠🇦🇺
As always verticals with coils of any kind in them are a compromise especially ones significantly less than a 1/4 wave length like the 4BTV. In my experience it’s better to put up a full size vertical for 20m or higher band and use bits of wire for 40m and below, even 10m of wire up to a tree / fence with 10m laying on the ground works well. Oh and mount the vertical 2m 6ft ish above the ground with 3 + radials.
Another great antenna video keep the videos coming
Another interesting video Peter... many thanks...I wonder what sort of SWR you get from 1 or 2 raised radials compared to a number of buried radials?
My Elmer who held a couple of different commercial antenna licenses always told me it was because noise tends to me more vertically polarized. Why that may be? No idea.
Thanks again for the video. I have just acquired a aerial from a silent key.
Not convinced they'll have much use for it!
Not funny.
@@timmcilraith8762 auto correct
Interesting. Do you still have the base of the vertical connected to an earthed foundation pole or spike as well as the elevated radial?
I had a butternut vertical a few years back. I had mine earthed to the mounting pole for lightening protection, the pole was earthed as well. And about 10 buried radials. It all helped to reduce noise but it was never quiet. I suspect Peter has done much the same thing.
as with most things, “it depends” is the answer
yes, but "it depends" is much less useful than "maybe it is"
Always very useful videos. Thank you!
I'm going to try that..tomorrow.
Thank you.
I always thought: why not use a vertical with elevated radial (which is more or less symmetrical) and it with open line feeder. Then your antenna can be matched with a symm. Matching unit (i.e. ATU) and you could match other bands as well? Never see one doing this.. always baluns and coax..
That is an „Up and Outer“. It will work as multiband antenna. Length of the two (random) wires must be determined by the lowest band. Just be careful that the feedline is not touching the ground. 73 de Chris
Yes sure! And of course the total length of the radiating wires + the open line feeders determines the impedance at the end of your feeders. So your symmetrical matching unit must be able to match al those different impedances @@DL1GKC
@@pa3byw For impedance purposes, you'd probably want the open wire feeder to be off-centre fed in the vertical/radial system. In fact, Walt, Coastal Waves and Wires, once played with an off centre fed vertical.
Hello Peter, vy niice video and consideration about radials. Ive an home made quarter wave for 40m with 2 elevated radials at abt 16m from the ground on the roof of my house. The performance are better compared ground radials. In the past I ve done some test in the mountains even with elevated radials, the sistem is much more quiet than the urban area. So i can confirm that vertical antenna are noisy? Depends were are installed. 73 Mauri iz2mgn
Peter, excellent video. That said, by pulling all the radials are you not losing 10M, 15M and 40M?
Yes. This was to demonstrate 20m improvement. You would need tuned radials on the other bands as well.
@@watersstanton Thank you, Peter. I am going to email you screen captures of the results. Again, keep the videos coming!!! Best, Lyman
If the buried radials pick up more noise in a vertical antenna system because they exist in the same space as the local man made noise otherwise known as "in the ground wave", then why does the Loop On Ground receive antenna reject the same noise in the same plane? Also conversely, why does the radial on the vertical reject ground plane man made noise when elevated, but the loop antenna when elevated to the same point, increases man made local noise sensitivity? Other antennas with buried radials are also not necessarily noisy to man made sources. It must be a more complex relationship than simply the location of the antenna in respect to the earth to cause opposite reactions in different antennas with change only to a single variable. In my experience, even a ground plane vertical with elevated radials is still pretty noisy. It makes more sense to agree with the vertical polarization of noise even though that concept doesn't appear to be ironclad, it is more documented.
I guess you have created a partly vertical dipole for 20m.
Hi Mike. Back in the 60s almost all verticals were known as GP antennas and had elevated radials. In most cases the whole antenna was well above ground.
Groundplane antennas are dipoles.
Only if you have a humming mast which is rectified by putting a plug in each end.
Interesting topic Peter, maybe directivity is partly due to your poor spring onions 😂
It is very simple. A symmetrical Dipole with balun ist quit, because NO common mode noice. Vertikal antennas do not compensate the common mode noice. They are noicy!
Can one use a "fan-radial" cut for each band???
I would think so, yes, it's just the other half of the dipole.
Question: Doesn’t the vertical piece of aluminum on which your 4BTV antenna is mounted (using U-bolts) interfere with the operation of the antenna? Since the short aluminum piece extends past the bottom of the antenna element does it not constitute a capacitance in parallel with the first few inches of the antenna-and therefore a disruption of the theoretical 35 ohm base impedance? One can make the case that since aluminum “shorting capacitor,” if you will, is indeed short it has little or no effect on the antenna current or the current distribution. But cannot one also argue that the existence of a current maximum at the bottom of the antenna should make that capacitance to ground significant?
The point of maximum current is at the feed point. As you raise an quarter wave antenna above ground the point of maximum current is always at the feed point assuming the radials are resonant and attached at feed point.
Verticals are aways ands have always been noisy compared to horizontal antennas on HF.
Not always, my vertical is sometimes quieter than my loop, sometimes its not.
Yes, verticals are very noisy. Solution? A nice yagi. Or move the vertical to a location with no noise.
Sounds like international politics
My old Sony AN1 worked better than the X1HF I now use.