Topband: RX cables in woods

[W0MU Mike Fatchett]

There is a formula that road builders use when burying culverts.  I 
don't know what it is but the guy building and maintaining roads told me 
once.  I thought it was dependent on the diameter of the tube or culvert.

I used 3 inch tile drainage tubing across a drive in a couple of places 
that were not very deep, which were then covered by road base, mostly 
river rock.  It worked great until the critters took refuge in them from 
the dogs and then the dogs managed to tear them all out of the ground 
before I could get around to capping them with screen etc.

Mike W0MU

On 2/23/2015 2:31 PM, Tom W8JI wrote:
>
>
>> You're right, the larger dia. PVC makes it worse sometimes. When it 
>> breaks
>> in two, it actually puts more shear on the coax inside.
>
> If it is like what happens here, the hard PVC turns the small radius 
> that the soil and rubber can deform around into a speed bump. :)
>
>> I do have flooded F-6 running on the ground, along a fence feeding my
>> Beverages, where it's not likely that any vehicles can drive over it. 
>> And
>> it's withstood the horses that used to be here; not even their hooves 
>> that
>> pushed it into the earth seemed to hurt it any.
>
>> I put this one run of F-6 (to the inverted-L) in PVC conduit for several
>> reasons, one of which was to keep my neighbor's cows from biting it 
>> as they
>> graze. I just didn't think of what would happen when the ground under it
>> got muddy. It seemed like a good idea at the time. :-)
>
> My damage issue is mostly Racoons, but occasionally field rats. Baby 
> cows used to be bad until they learned cable isn't cud.
>
>> I have a 1000' spool of F-11 with a messenger wire. I'll likely 
>> replace the
>> stuff on the ground with it, about 15' high.
>>
>
> I only do that where necessary to cross roads or creeks. I have 
> occasional cable and wire damage from lighting, and I also have too 
> many antennas crossing the cables to make me feel good about elevating 
> the feed cables.
>
> Best thing I ever built was a radial and cable burying plow. Even in 
> the clay, I can run coax up to 1/2 inch into the ground several inches 
> deep at a good clip. Nothing easier than just loading a cable reel, 
> and driving along at a walk or jog speed. :) I can go real fast, but a 
> big rock can bust the hitch pins if the tractor is going too fast. I 
> occasionally weld a new front edge on the plow when it gets too thin. 
> Otherwise, it is pretty much maintenance free.
>
>
> _________________
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