Topband: Radials through heavy brush (Was:Radials over a stone wall)

[Jeff]

Another economical and light weight method of pushing wire through brush 
would be to use a 10' piece of 1/2" PVC or plastic electrical conduit. In 
the case of the electrical conduit it can be extended by adding multiple 
pieces together for greater length. It's lite weight and flexible enough to 
bounce it with one hand over things like roots or stones that might get in 
the way. If you don't want to carry 10' lengths of plastic pipes around, 
look in the big box stores or electrical suppliers for threaded push rods 
made of fiberglass. Typically they come in 4' sections with 4 or 5 in pack 
that threat one onto the other and are brightly colored. That makes it easy 
to find in the leaves and twigs.  Just tape your wire on to the end and 
push.  Autumn is coming, time to get those TB antennas back in the air. 
W7JW

-----Original Message----- 
From: Dean
Sent: Saturday, August 11, 2012 4:01 PM
Cc: topband at contesting.com
Subject: Re: Topband: Radials through heavy brush (Was:Radials over a stone 
wall)

Brilliant Gary!

Dean
K3GGN
~~~

On 8/10/2012 11:16 PM, Gary K9GS wrote:
> Here's how I lay radials in the woods with heavy brush.
>
> I have a ~15 foot long piece of wooden oak stairway handrail.  The kind
> you see for basement stairs.  It's about 2 inches in diameter and has a
> flat on one side so it's D shaped in cross section.
>
> With the flat facing down, cut a bevel on each end at a ~30-45 degree
> angle to the flat.  Looking from the side it looks kinda like this:
>
> <_______________>
>
> In each end I screw in a small screw eye.
>
> To lay a radial, lay the handrail on the ground, flat side down, and tie
> the radial to either screw eye.  If there is a lot of "stuff" to go
> through that's close to the ground it's easier to tie the radial to the
> trailing screw eye.  Then, keeping the flat on the ground use the
> handrail like a needle to thread it under/through the brush. You can
> sometimes give it a good push and it will go right through. This is
> where it helps to have a longer/heavier handrail.
>
> Then I work my way around the brush pile and get to the end of the
> handrail.  Then just untie the wire.  I usually tie the end of the wire
> to a 3-4 inch long nail and just push the nail into the ground to hold
> the end in place.
>
> The length of the handrail also helps to keep the radials evenly
> spaced.  You can keep the end closest to the antenna aligned with the
> base and use the previously laid radial as a guide to keep things even.
>
> Wear a long-sleeved shirt or your arms will look like you were in a cat
> fight.  Around here (Wisconsin) our brush is typically "Buckthorn" which
> is covered with 1/4 inch long very sharp thorns.......<ouch>.
>
> This works really well for me...YMMV
>

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