Transmission1

I'm trying to work out an ideal length/design for a HF portable counterpoise. It'll mainly be used on 20m. My question is, is it better to have a smaller number of longer wire lengths, or a larger number of smaller ones?

I'm going to be using an old 20m long extension lead, which has 3x thick steel wire stranded conductors. I haven't cut it yet, as I thought I'd get some advice first.

I'm not too worried about size, It'll be used for overnight/weekend use, so it's OK if it ends up taking up a rucksack or something.

Ground or elevated?

Ideally elevated, but possibly just thrown on the ground. I wasn't going to ground them (they'll be connected to the radio ground).

I'm building my own version of the PRC320 ground plane kit, seeing as it's just a very expensive reel of wire.

Elevated radials should be resonant and 4 per band is enough.
Laying on the ground or buried 32-36 at least. 20m band, 5m long radials should do the trick.
Chris

That's great, thanks Chris!

...and forget about steel wire.

As many radials as possible using copper wire is my advice, you can go down to 1/8 long if using 64 possibly 32.
If you think about it, When you mount a 40m antenna on a car your vehicle is not 10m square but it still works with a small counterpoise.

Just use as many as you can but after 64 you see diminishing returns.

You can use a tape measure as a tuneable counterpoise at a push or even as a dipole if you use 2.