Topband: chicken wire ground screen

[W7CW Jay Ostrem]

In the late 80's I had 3 modest 160 antennas installed.

One system was a Butternut vertical with the 160 kit.  I used 15 rolls of
chicken wire.  Each roll was 3-4 ft wide, 100 ft long.  The rolls joined in
the center, and were wired together.  They all overlapped a metal plate. I
stuck with wires and bolts as any attempts to solder visibly damaged the
galvanizing.  The vertical became more critical to tune, and the antenna
would change resonance due to coil heating run over 500 watts.( I no longer
saw worms jumping out of the ground near the base of the antenna, as they
did when I had 4 on the ground radials)

Antenna two was a 1/4 wave inverted L with three elevated radials.  The
vertical section was 30 feet long, and the base/radials were 15 ft up.

The third antenna was a bent dipole up  30 feet.

I always ended up using the Inverted L.  When comparing antennas, the dipole
would be several S units lower than the L, but the Butternut would be
unreadable.

The lack of performance of the Butternut system was most likely due to its
compromise design, and not the radial system.

The chicken wire system was kept for a year.  It would not remain flat,
snagged the mower, and was a continual tripping hazard.    It was fun
watching the gophers get confused.  I had to pull it out with a truck due to
all the grass growing through it, and it was a chore getting rid of it.  Our
climate in Wyoming is dryer than most, so corrosion was not much of a
problem.

73 Jay W7CW