Im sure chicken wire lasts longer in the great southwest but it rapidly
turns to rust in the acidic soil and acid rain of the New England rust belt.
I see rolls of it regularly at our trash transfer station and Id be willing
to bet the current Chinese variety rusts a lot faster than the earlier US
variety.
I keep stressing that the one size fits all theory of some just doesnt work
for Topband antennas and grounds.
It is not recommended to use stranded copper wire for RF or DC/AC grounds
and that should also apply to galvanized wire that only has a few twists at
each junction. Each junction can eventually become a diode and I believe
most of us on here are aware what that can cause.
Carl
KM1H
----- Original Message -----
From: Howard K2HK
To: zr@jeremy.mv.com ; topband
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2012 2:02 PM
Subject: RE: Topband: Ground Screens - Another Small Space Option
Rob Sherwood was once a strong advocate of chicken wire and has run many
tests. Perhaps he might chime in here with some comments.
Howard K2HK
From: zr@jeremy.mv.com
To: jim@audiosystemsgroup.com; topband@contesting.com
Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2012 22:07:03 -0400
Subject: Re: Topband: Ground Screens - Another Small Space Option
I got the idea of the mesh at work from a Tech Class engineer but dont
remember him referencing HRM. This was in the mid 80's and I was
complaining
about the poor performance of a shunt fed 100' tower with 10/15/20 4el
yagis
for top loading and 60 radials of 60-130' or so.
Since chicken wire is only twisted, thin, and very cheap, I decided its
utility would be very short lived and went with the 2X4" rabbit wire which
is welded, hot dip galvanized and plastic coated. Quite expensive (no
China
brands) but I found 5 4x50' reels in the next town in the local "Want
Advertiser" that had been used less than a year and was a fraction the
cost.
When I moved here it came with me and its been rolled up in the woods
since
1989, still looking fine. I went with elevated radials instead for the 2
element 1/4 waves.
Carl
KM1H
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