ANTENTOP- 01- 2014 # 018

Buried Antennas for Emergency Communications

John J. Schultz W1DCG/W2EEY

Credit Line: 73 MAGAZINE, April 1967, pp.: 34- 35

In this article, W1DCG describes some of the properties of buried antennas, particularly in relation to their usefulness for amateur Civil Defense or emergency communications installations.

Many experiments have been conducted with sub- surface antennas in recent years to allow construction of bomb- proof communication sites and for communication with deeply submerged submarines.

Some scientists believe in the possibility of a super- conductive medium in the earth's crust so that antennas could be buried in the ground in an upside-down fashion and communications established using this "earth ionosphere" much the same as surface antennas work in conjunction with the ionosphere.

However, experimenters in this field have not been very successful and a buried antenna, for practical purposes, can be treated as having useful propagation only above the surface. The deeper the antenna is buried, the more inefficient it becomes because of the earth's absorption of the radiated energy.

What application do such antennas have for the amateurs? Few amateurs are faced with such a drastic situation that they can't put up some form of surface antenna, even if only attic antenna for short whip. However, for those engaged in Civil Defense or other emergency communications work, the installation of a buried, "back- up" antenna at a fixed station should be considered.

Front Cover: 73 MAGAZINE, April 1967

It is quite a contradiction to see so many times an emergency communications setup in a relatively protected area- the basement of some public building, for instance- and then to see the antennas on which the usefulness of the installation entirely depends, dangling loosely in the open liable to any extreme surface condition, natural or man- made.

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