Hi Matt,I agree with Gary. Use a ground plane mesh under the coil as your ground reference. Tie all RF grounded components to this mesh. I would suggest the chicken wire or similar. Aluminum foil is a last resort. Something that does come in handy for this is a round Rail Road sign. It's a large 30" diameter and made of aluminum. I'm not advising to go out and take down a Rail Road sign, but often people have similar objects lying around. I have a Rail Road sign and a "Do Not Enter" sign which I use from time to time (found them in a barn when I lived in MN).
Anyway, something mechanically strong is what I'm getting at. A plate or mesh will do fine at providing a counterpoise. A plate is kind of nice since you can drill a hole and mount a brass screw for attaching wiring. However, a mesh would be best if the primary coil is very near to the counterpoise. But if it's up high enough, then a plate would do fine. The reason is that a plate can affect the primary inductance if it's too close.
Take care, Bart Lau, Gary wrote:
I'm not sure that a length of wire, regardless of thickness, is the best choice for a counterpoise. Think of the counterpoise as one plate of a capacitor, the other being the earth. A skinny wire paired with the earth will have very little capacitance. A better choice would be a length of aluminum foil unrolled across the floor, or a piece of chicken wire (wire mesh). Regards, Gary Lau MA, USA
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