Most stations just follow tradition. No station I have built has ever
had any radials stolen. They are buried 3 feet down. It takes heavier
equipment to do it but it is worth the effort.
On 2/10/12 2:54 PM, Herb Schoenbohm wrote:
>
> On 2/10/2012 1:11 PM, Milt -- N5IA wrote:
>> If that is the case, WHY do the pro broadcasters install all 120 radials at
>> full length; even bare wire buried a couple of inches underground?
> Answer:
>
> Because the FCC requires it as part of your AM application. Some
> stations that were required to protect a distant station on the same
> channel but away from the area they wanted to cover, even applied for a
> waivers with a deliberately poor ground system in the protected
> direction ...but the FCC said no way Jose. Another consulting engineer
> when modeling a slant wire shunt fed and running test FSM noticed some
> cancellation in the opposite direction of the slant wire shunt fed
> tower. This appeared a sensible solution to enhanced protection without
> the addition of another tower and expensive pahser, not to mention the
> cost of additional real estate. Again the boys at 1919 M Street said
> no. (The Portals today)
>
> With the price of copper skyrocketing the amount of theft in some parts
> of the country is unbelievable. AM stations are immediate targets as
> thieves just pull up the systems with a winch or just hook it to the
> bumper and drive off into seclusion and roll it up in the back of a
> truck. Some station owners in PR have opted to plow in barbed wire as a
> lower cost alternative to bare copper. So far none of the barbed wire
> buried ground systems have not been touched.
>
>
> Herb Schoenbohm, KV4FZ
> _______________________________________________
> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>
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UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
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