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[TowerTalk] Burying radials

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Subject: [TowerTalk] Burying radials
From: n4zr@contesting.com (Pete Smith)
Date: Fri Jun 6 13:49:02 2003
At 01:08 PM 6/6/03 -0400, Bud Hippisley, K2KIR wrote:
>I live in a forest, so the top surface of my yard consists of pine 
>needles, clumps of moss, and numerous surface roots from pines, balsams, 
>hemlocks, and an occasional hardwood.  Because there are so many roots I 
>doubt that the "EdgeHog" or any similar device would be of much use to 
>me.  Instead, I'm thinking of hand trenching with a garden trowel a foot 
>or two at a time, where possible, and then using some kind of pound-in 
>clip to hold each radial in place where it has to come out of the ground 
>to go over a tree root.  (Probably in pairs -- one on each side of the 
>root.)  Something that looks like a miniature tent-peg seems like it would 
>be ideal, but I certainly can't afford real tent-pegs, based on the prices 
>I've seen in area stores, and they're typically far too big for what I 
>have in mind.
>
>Soooo.....I'm wondering if anyone knows of something that would do the 
>"tie down" job and is readily (and cheaply) available at Lowe's, Home 
>Depot, or the national hardware chains.  (Whatever I use, I expect to need 
>many hundreds of them.)  Alternatively, has anyone ever taken a large 
>electrical or construction staple and bent the sharp ends back up, so that 
>they resist being removed -- much like the barb on a fish hook -- after 
>being driven into the ground?


A couple of thoughts -- there are wire "staples" made for holding down 
landscape cloth that are ideal for this-- you can buy them in boxes of 500 
or 1000 from suppliers like AM Leonard.

With a bow to K1VR, who told me about it, another approach that I've used 
with some success is to thread radials under the top layer of grass, weeds, 
etc. in the woods where my tower is.  Fred's idea was to use a ground rod 
bent to have a slight curve, like a carpet needle, and with a hole drilled 
in one end like the eye of the needle.  This way I can stitch the wire 
through the undergrowth 8 feet or so at a time, which helps the process to 
go smoothly.  Maybe a combination of the two....


73, Pete N4ZR
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