Topband: Optimal radial wire type and gauge?

[Charlie Cunningham]

Well, Carl

Your thoughts on radials are pretty much like mine!  For those of us with
limited space, another way to get the 130' elevated radials into limited
space is to bend them. I've had really good success on 160 by doing that
under and inverted L (about 70-80 feet vertical) I try to arrange to get the
first bend out 60-70' from the base of the inverted L. Works pretty well! 

What helped me the most on 160 and 80 was when I built KAZ style terminated
loop with a  preamp for a receiving antenna! Suddenly I could HEAR stations
on 160 that I didn't even know were there! It also worked very well as a
receive antenna on 80, 40 and 30m! Sure helped a lot on my modest city lot!!
(With too  many tall trees!)

Charlie, K4OTV



-----Original Message-----
From: Topband [mailto:topband-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Carl
Sent: Friday, December 14, 2012 10:41 AM
To: Rick Kiessig; topband at contesting.com
Subject: Re: Topband: Optimal radial wire type and gauge?

I use whatever I can find at the lowest cost which has been mostly #16 and
18 stranded and insulated in 500-1000' reels at a local surplus shop. Ive
even used #22 when the other wasnt on hand and it was a weekend.  With the
current split thru a sufficient number of wires there shouldnt be any
unecessary loss. You can also run a thicker wire for the first 50' of so
where the current is highest and then splice in the smaller wire. This may
be of interest when having to buy new wire at retail cost.

There has been very little breakage here from storm damage over the decades
since the wires just lay on the branches and are not tied off tight.
The sine wave droop is a good way to get 130' of wire in less horizontal
space (-;

Carl
KM1H




----- Original Message -----
From: "Rick Kiessig" <kiessig at gmail.com>
To: <topband at contesting.com>
Sent: Friday, December 14, 2012 9:29 AM
Subject: Topband: Optimal radial wire type and gauge?


> The recent talk about optimizing the number of radials has me wondering
> about the optimal type and gauge for radial wire. I've been using #14
> stranded, insulated copper, but for no reason other than it's readily
> available in 500 ft spools at a decent price. With the cost of copper 
> being
> so high these days, is there a better choice? If so, how do we know it's
> really better? And is there an easy way to trade off cost vs. 
> effectiveness?
> I can't use mesh at my QTH, so I need to stay with actual wire.
>
>
>
> 73, Rick ZL2HAM
>
>
>
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