Topband: Radials over a stone wall

[ZR]

Rent a hammer drill with a 1/2" or 3/4" bit and an extension. Takes about 15 
minutes a hole as long as you have AC out there. My 3/4" bit is 12" long and 
Ive used it several times to bust up big boulders at or near the surface in 
the yard.

Start at a point where there is space between 2 rocks to minimize the 
effort. This is a job where you sit on the ground to work and then lay down 
when tired and keep drilling!

Carl
KM1H


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Herb Schoenbohm" <herbs at vitelcom.net>
To: "N2TK, Tony" <tony.kaz at verizon.net>
Cc: "'topband'" <topband at contesting.com>
Sent: Friday, August 10, 2012 3:32 PM
Subject: Re: Topband: Radials over a stone wall


> Tony, no need to fret about drilling. I would say than going under is
> better than going over.  The crews who do direct burial for cable TV and
> fiber have special directional drill attachments that you should try to
> borrow. the will go straight down along the wall until they get to the
> dirt under the wall, find their way under the wall and come up on the
> other side.  You just a need a few of these connector and for them it is
> something they do all the time under highways, concrete drainage and
> sidewalks, as a matter of their work.
>
> If you want to DIY you could also excavate as much as possible on both
> sides, take some 8 foot ground rods and drive them at an angle drive
> with a sledge on each side and see if you can "establish contact".  Fill
> both sides of the pilot holes with rock salt, the water them for several
> days.  Eventually you should have a fairly low resistance connection
> from one rod to the other, even if they do not touch. Connect you
> radials to both ground rods. Only problem with the rock salt is it will
> eventually each away at the copper covered steel rod.  But you should be
> good for a year or two.
>
> Before I get royally flamed here and subjected to humiliation by not
> having this advice peer reviewed, let me suggest that this method has
> never been tested by me and probably not by anyone else.
>
>
> Herb Schoenbohm, KV4FZ
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 8/10/2012 2:21 PM, N2TK, Tony wrote:
>> Thanks Bill and Herb about drilling a hole through the wall. That could 
>> be
>> tough. It is a stone wall with no mortar. It is about 20-28" thick. It is
>> well constructed with large field stones. It would be rough to drill 
>> through
>> all of that. I had thought about taking portion of the wall apart but
>> figured I would never get it back to looking as good as it does now. The
>> stones go fairly deep so not much chance of going under the wall.
>>
>> 73,
>> N2TK, Tony
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Bill Wichers [mailto:billw at waveform.net]
>> Sent: Friday, August 10, 2012 12:26 PM
>> To: N2TK, Tony; topband
>> Subject: RE: Topband: Radials over a stone wall
>>
>> I would expect an "up and over" to clear the wall would result in a
>> choke-like effect on the radial and would, at best, reduce the radial's
>> effectiveness.
>>
>> It should be easy to just drill some small (maybe 1/4"?) holes through 
>> the
>> wall in a few places to pass the radials through. With a decent hammer 
>> drill
>> and a carbide bit a small hole like that is pretty quick and easy to
>> complete -- even in concrete or stone. Then just use a piece of 
>> coathanger
>> wire as a wire fishing tool to run the radials through the hole.
>>
>> I use a wire pulling tool called a "creep-zit" to pull radials under 
>> fallen
>> trees and logs in the woods. It works great. I basically just take one of
>> the 6 foot long fiberglass rods (each of which is a little over 1/8"
>> diameter), tape the radial to one end, and then I can push it under 
>> fallen
>> debris easily. With a little practice you can even get around hidden
>> obstructions in the ground this way.
>>
>>    -Bill
>>
>>
>>> I shunt feed my tower for topband. I use variable vacuum caps and a
>> vacuum
>>> relay at the base to switch between the low end and the high end of
>> the
>>> band. It seems to work okay. I have 100' buried radials spaced 10' at
>> the
>>> ends from o degrees going clockwise through about 220 degrees. I have
>> a 4'
>>> high stone wall that runs about 20/200 degrees that is about 35' at
>> its
>>> closest point to the tower. So the radials are progressively shorter
>> on
>>> the
>>> West side of the tower.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I am making an assumption that going up over the wall will distort any
>>> benefits of extending the radials on the West side? Is that a true
>>> assumption.
>>>
>>> I can't really have the radials go from the tower base up at an angle
>> to
>>> clear the stone wall and continue on. If I am to extend them the
>> radials
>>> would have to go on the ground to the wall then up and over and back
>> down
>>> to
>>> the ground.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> 73,
>>>
>>> N2TK, Tony
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>> _______________________________________________
>> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>
> _______________________________________________
> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>
>
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