Topband: Edger for burying ground radials ?

[Roger Parsons]

Hi Ed

Emphatically yes!

I have always used a hand edger and/or spade to cut slots in grass for radials (hard work), but a few months ago I found an electric edger on sale at Home Depot - about C$50 which I thought was worth a try.

(1) Cut the slot with the edger. Even this small electric one was powerful enough through some pretty tough underbrush although I did blunt the blades in the end.

(2) Use the G3OFW method to lay the radial into the slot. Get a few feet of ~ 3/8" pipe - steel is best, but copper/aly are usable - make sure there are no burrs at the ends. Thread the radial wire through the pipe and tie it off at the start end. Bend the pipe into a shallow 'S' shape and then just run it along the bottom of the slot - quick, easy and the wire is buried along its full length. (This method works best using stranded insulated wire, but solid is also usable.)

(3) Tread down the slot. It is immediately almost invisible.

Of course the above technique will not work in Northern Ontario now until about next May - the ground is frozen solid!

73 Roger
VE3ZI/G3RBP