Topband: Deployable radials for 80/160M

[Herb Schoenbohm]

I found a great source for radial wire at home Depot where they have 
100' rolls of 14-2 packaged for under $40.  Two conductors are insulated 
and one of course is not after the easy job of striping them across a 
bench jig or simple having a second person hold a pocket knife while you 
pull the conductors apart you end up with 300 feet of higher quality 
ground radial material. 2 each  100 foot insulated radials due to the VF 
are very close to 1/4 wave consideration and the the shorter 100 foot 
bare doesn't hurt either.  This of course brings up the issue of mixing 
bare and insulated wire in any ground system so I use the bare conductor 
for other 80 and 40 verticals.  Yet the sum of the three wires is 
cheaper than buying them individually it seems.


Herb Schoenbohm, KV4FZ



On 6/24/2014 2:57 PM, Jeff Woods via Topband wrote:
>
> I've been doing the same thing with similar wire for several years.  It works.  Some of my radials are even salvaged from Cat 5 cable - pretty thin, but they do the job.  I've found they are much more rugged when deployed as twisted pairs though.
>
>   Lately, I've been supplementing the radials with rolls of 2 to 3 ft. wide by 50 ft long chicken wire.  The stuff is about $5 a roll at the farm supply store.  I'll be trying it out on 80m for field day next weekend - just 6 to 8 rolls as a radial system for an HF6V multi-band vertical.  It deploys easily and rolls up quickly.
>
> -Jeff / W0ODS
>    
>
>> ________________________________
>> From: rich kennedy via Topband <topband at contesting.com>
>> To: "topband at contesting.com" <topband at contesting.com>
>> Sent: Monday, June 23, 2014 11:23 AM
>> Subject: Topband: Deployable radials for 80/160M
>>
>>
>> Hello, I'm now able to use a couple acre parcel for a new 80/160M shorty vertical (80'); however, I can use this land only between Nov and May.
>>
>> For radials I'm intending on using a #22 stranded hookup wire, 300v and wondering if this particular wire would be suitable for spooling out the ~90 foot radials then respooling them up several months later.  Expected power = 1KW; Number of radial ~ 40.  Any hints appreciated.
>>
>>
>> 73, Rich, K3VAT
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