Topband: Antenna and radial questions

[Randy Thompson, K5ZD]

Hello gang,

I am tired of being weak on 160 so have been doing some work to improve.
The Topband archives have been a great source of info, but haven't seen a
lot on the questions below.

I have 90' high Rohn 25G tower with a 6-ele 10m monobander at the top and
two 4-ele 10m monobanders at 30 and 60 feet.  Have removed anything coming
off the tower except the coax and rotator cable that are run inside the
tower and exit at ground level.  Also have an 80m 4 square hanging by ropes
from this tower (more on it later).

The tower is on a granite hill, so ground conductivity can be considered
very poor.  (It's New England, that's just how it is.)

Question 1 - Radials

I have 16 1/4-wave radials that are laid out on top of the ground that go
out in all directions from the base of the tower.

Each of the 4 square elements also has 8 radials that are laid out on the
ground.

Does it matter how the radials are mixed?  I.e., does it matter if some of
the 160 radials go above the 80m 4 square radials and vice versa?

Question 2 - More radials

I see in the ON4UN book that the 4 square radials should be hooked together
at the intersection points between antennas.  Right now, mine are not.  Each
radial is independent of all others.  Is it worth tieing them together?

If so, how much should I tie in the 160 radials as well?

Thanks!

Randy Thompson, K5ZD
11 Hollis Street, Uxbridge, MA 01569 USA
E-mail k5zd at contesting.com
Web: http://www.k5zd.com