Topband: Aluminum radials?

[Mike Waters W0BTU]

> From: Merv Schweigert <k9fd at flex.com>
> Subject: Re: Topband: Aluminum radials?
> > Ken, K4XL wrote:
> >
> >  I'm fresh out of scraps of copper wire
> > for radials and am considering using aluminum electric fence
> > wire. The other galvanized electric fence wire rusts away in a
> > couple of seasons. Anyone else using the aluminum stuff?


Anyone ever try a protective anode to make their radials last?

At a former QTH in NW Ohio, I had a ground-mounted vertical with 100 or so galvanized electric fence wire radials laid on the ground. Furthermore, it was fed with buried bare hardline (shield connected to radial ring).

It was up over 10 years (until I moved to Missouri) and did not appreciably deteriorate. I attribute that to the anode bag that I had buried in the ground next to the antenna and connected to the radial ring.

This was in spite the of fact that about 1/4 of the radials were in a low area that did not drain well after a rain.


The anode bag was the kind they weld to buried steel pipe. The anode deteriorates, but not the steel. You have to replace the anode every so often, but that's much easier and cheaper than replacing the ground radials and bare aluminum feedline.

There's a good book I own called "Cathodic Protection" that nicely explains many such systems, including magnesium rods for the anode.


73 Mike