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[TowerTalk] Burying radials

To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: [TowerTalk] Burying radials
From: k4oj@tampabay.rr.com (Jim White, K4OJ)
Date: Fri Jun 6 16:16:37 2003
Bud - is there any chance those large hair/bobby pins would work - they 
are about 2 to 3 inches long and can be found at any YL Improvement Center!

73,

Jim, K4OJ



Bud Hippisley, K2KIR wrote:
> This winter I put up a 90-foot Rohn 45 guyed tower -- partly to support my HF 
> Yagis and partly to serve as my top-loaded 160-meter vertical.
> 
> Because the ground was frozen by the time I could get around to putting down 
> radials, I laid some temporary radials on top of the ground just before the 
> first significant snowfall.   Now the snow has gone (finally!) and everybody 
> is tripping over the wires, so now I need to bury two or three dozen 
> "permanent" radials.  After looking in my junk box, the radials are most apt 
> to be #12 insulated solid copper house wire (for mechanical strength) or #16 
> bare solid copper wire (if I find any advantage to using it).
> 
> 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?  
> 
> Bud, K2KIR
> 
> _______________________________________________
> 
> See: http://www.mscomputer.com  for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless 
> Weather Stations", and lot's more.  Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any 
> questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
> 
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