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Re: [TowerTalk] Radial field question Single radial wires vs mesh and mo

To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Radial field question Single radial wires vs mesh and more
From: Bob K6UJ <k6uj@pacbell.net>
Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2016 09:18:43 -0700
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
Rob,

Kevin Kidd of AM Ground Systems could learn from us mere amateurs.
You don't necessarily need to "spend the money" and use copper mesh.
Jim mentioned Rob Sherwood's contribution of using galvanized ground screen. I used his ground screen system he presented and had great results. Still intact when I took it up. I had the four sections of galvanized mesh extending out in four directions and used it for years until recently when I went to elevated radials about 12 feet above the ground. As Jim stated with the chemical makeup of our soil at any given QTH it may work in one location and not another. Its not very expensive and worth trying. In my case it worked well. Your premise that we should not use the galvanized mesh cannot be regarded as universally valid. It is a good option to "try" at our individual stations. Certainly more cost effective than copper mesh.............

Bob
K6UJ



On 10/28/16 3:42 AM, Rob Atkinson wrote:
Some pretty sharp engineers disagree with this advice. Rob Sherwood, NC0B, first 
published on the usefulness of galvanized ground screen in 1977, and talked about it 
in >presentations in the Dayton Antenna Forum in 2008 and 2009. Rob is best known 
for his work on quantifying the receive performance of modern HF rigs. Like anything 
making >contact with the chemical makeup of soil and local moisture at any given 
QTH, materials that work in one location may not work in another.
You can go to all the trouble of putting down "mesh" and risk having
to do it all over again since that is a material and product not
intended to be in contact with the ground.

Or you can spend the money and do it right from the get-go, except
that in professional installations, copper mesh or screen, is only
used with voltage fed towers.  For most ham situations the tower base
is a current maximum, i.e. a 90 degree radiator base fed, and for that
a radial ring and ground system made up of radiators is fine.

Who are all these "sharp engineers?"   Kevin Kidd of AM Ground Systems
Inc. has probably done more professional AM tower ground system
installations and re-builds across the U.S. then all of your "sharp
engineers" combined.

There's nothing wrong with being a cheap ham at the hamfest, but the
ground system is one area where cheap just buys trouble within a year
or even a few months.

73

Rob
K5UJ
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