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Topband: Beverage construction questions

To: <topband@contesting.com>
Subject: Topband: Beverage construction questions
From: 2@vc.net (2)
Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2001 10:01:38 -0700
>I was planning on using 17 gauge aluminum electric fence wire, but I'm abt 
>to decide that would be a mistake.  I've got both a 1wl and 2wl beverage in 
>mind.  Can I get away with using #16 or #18 insulated stranded copper wire?
>
//  I used surplus Gibson-girl 500-kHz emergency beacon hydrogen-balloon 
tether wire,  This wire is c. #20ga,, made of a  Cu-Cd alloy braid over a 
glass fiber core.  It's strong, lightweight, stretches little, and 
conducts RF well.  To splice two ends together, I used copper tubing 
filled with solder.  To maintain  2kg of constant tension, I hung a 
2-litre bottle filled with water from a rope and pulley at one end.  This 
provided some give when the wire was inadvertently struck at night by 
owls hunting rodents.  

>I plan on using 10ft pieces of 5/8inch rebar as supports for a beverage 
>(the rebar will be driven into the gnd 2ft).  

//  I used end to end 7' and 4' fiberglass electric fence posts -- 
available in the Sears Farm Catalog.  The end to end fastening was 
accomplished with stainless-steel hose clamps.

> My question is what distance 
>should the ant wire be from the piece of rebar.  They make these nice 
>plastic things for electric fence wire that would screw onto the rebar, but 
>the ant wire would be within 1 to 2 inches from the rebar. Is this too 
>close?  My other idea, that requires slightly more work, is to cut a 1 to 
>2ft piece of PVC pipe and clamp it to the top of the rebar and run the ant 
>wire thru a slot in the pipe.  

//   Good idea.  

>So, what should the minimum distance be 
>between rebar and ant?
>
>If I were to use the elec fence plastic thingees, do you think that the 
>rebar would rotate until the ant wire touches the rebar?
>
>I plan on terminating the beverage with one-fourth wavelength of wire.  Is 
>this one-fourth wl in free space?  Or is the length not that critical?
>
//  I found that the least resistive MF/HF ground was wire laid 
horizontally just below the surface of the soil.  10' of wire was 
seemingly enough to get a good front-to-back ratio.  

>Tks in advance for any answers.
>
cheers, Fritz

-  R. L. Measures, 805.386.3734,AG6K, www.vcnet.com/measures.  
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