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Re: [TowerTalk] Radial Wire Size

To: "Stan Stockton" <stan@aqity.org>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Radial Wire Size
From: "RICHARD BOYD" <ke3q@msn.com>
Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2003 11:44:33 -0500
List-post: <mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
It will work but certainly will degrade faster than larger gauge wire.  All 
wire will degrade over time.

Radials can be put out pretty fast, actually, if you use a good system.  W0UN's 
system presented at the Dayton Antenna Forum some years back impressed me.  Get 
your tape measure and lay out a perimeter with wooden stakes, from the vertical 
base to the length you want the radials to go.  The stakes don't have to go in 
the ground far; theyre just temporary.

Get your spool of wire and go from the vertical base, out to around a stake, 
over to the next nearest stake, then back to the vertical base.  He also made a 
figure-eight "jig" out of wood at the vertical base, just to run the wire back 
over when he reached the vertical base again with the spool of wire.  No need 
to clip the wire into individual radial wires; it can all be a continuous piece 
of wire and it works the same.  I believe he used landscaping (sod) 
tacks/staples to attach the wire to the ground "here and there," and pulled the 
perimeter stakes out when done.

Radials don't have to be sliced into the ground; they can lay on top and the 
grass/thatch draws them down within a year or two, etc.  You wouldn't want to 
mow close or rake, and probably not run livestock on the ground either.

73 - Rich, KE3Q




  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Stan Stockton 
  To: towertalk@contesting.com 
  Sent: Wednesday, December 31, 2003 9:27 AM
  Subject: [TowerTalk] Radial Wire Size


  I am sure this discussion has been had before,  However, I am putting up a 4
  Square for 80M.  I have available a huge supply of #18 copper wire with
  enamel (magnet wire) and could probably put down as many as 100 radials
  under each element if I had the desire to put that many down.  Of course I
  would rather be using a larger gauge but the question is whether these
  radials would desintegrate over a period of a few years or decade and
  whether that or other considerations would make me want to change to a
  larger wire size.  Although I LOVE antenna work, I don't think I want to go
  through the exercise of laying down about 300 radials more than once.

  Stan, K5GO


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_______________________________________________

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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