Topband: Staples

[Herb Schoenbohm]

GALE STEWARD wrote:
> Steve is spot on! I've made hundreds (if not thousands) if these things. You can make up a little cutting/bending jig and crank them out easily and quickly.
>
> 73, Stew K3ND
>
>
>
>   
A good source of "free" wire are discarded sections of CATV cable in the 
company dumpster...where you can use a pocket knife peel off the 
messenger cable which can be prepared as needed for the size and shape 
of the staples you need.

I also found that large galvanized nails, sold by the pound from the 
hardware store, work great in harder soil and even frozen soil by 
looping the radial wire around the nail.  I use insulated #12 solid but 
it may be a problem with bare wire due to dissimilar metals (steel and 
copper) in a moist soil environment creating semi conductors all over 
your radial field.  But the large nail allows a deeper seating into the 
soil than staples in cases where the underlying soil is harder as is the 
case in this part of the world.

73

Herb, KV4FZ