On 9/25/11 9:41 AM, Kevin Normoyle wrote:
>
>> From ON4UN's Low-Band DXing regarding ground enhancements using mesh
> screening... "Steel is a very poor conductor at RF"
>
>
> Looking at VK1OD's table here, zinc is pretty good
> http://vk1od.net/antenna/conductors/loss.htm
>
> so zinc-plated steel, or Al would be fine, it's just the corrosion issues.?
>
I think so. It sort of depends on a whole cost/benefit analysis... If
you're rolling out wires for a weekend or a couple weeks, cheap and
light might be the ticket (go aluminum!). If you're installing a ground
field for your 160m full wavelength vertical to reduce losses so you can
beat the guys operating in the middle of a salt marsh for the Stew Perry
for the next 20 years, then copper might be a better choice.
ANd the corrosion thing will be highly site specific. If you're out in
the desert (where soil conductivity is really, really low), practically
anything will help. If you're in that salt marsh, galvanized fence
wire's probably not a good choice. (I remember seeing a big AM
broadcast tower in Japan in the middle of a lagoon or marsh on the way
from Nara to Osaka and thinking: yes, they have a great location. The
lagoon served as field for a golf driving range, too. I don't know how
they recovered the balls, though)
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