Topband: Radials over a stone wall

[W2PM]

Be real careful when drilling at those seam points tho as the bit can get stuck when hitting the harder area around the joint and if your holding on with both hands it will twist your arms around real good. 

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On Aug 10, 2012, at 16:20, "ZR" <zr at jeremy.mv.com> wrote:

> 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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> 
> _______________________________________________
> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK