[TowerTalk] Radials lying on/within vines, brush?

[VR98BrettGraham]

KH7M recently described his experience with raised radials & vines in a
tropical paradise.  This is a never ending problem at VR98BG & I'd swear
the things develop an immunity to whatever you spray them with (favorites
here are DDT & paraquat, which is even more scary when the villagers call
this stuff "medicine").  Cutting is the only solution.

The base of my vertical is 9m above ground & the radials are 1-2m above
ground at the far end.  Those not tied off to neighboring houses invariably
get engulfed in short order & I find that a monthly attack with a
knife tied a bamboo pole helps keep them reasonably clear.  About twice a
year the cheap rope I use to tie them up will break due to the UV & this
gives me a chance to drag the radial back in to clean them thoroughly (six
of the ten radials are made of 450-ohm punched twinlead for stub tuning &
the vines just love the stuff).  Every weekend I shake each radial from the
antenna end to break off whatever manages to grow inbetween attacks with
the knife.

The problem I haven't found the right solution to yet is how to deal with
the bugs which crawl out of the jungle, up the radials & on to the roof of
the house.  Only once have I seen them come up one radial & go down another
to give someone else a hard time.

73, VR98BrettGraham


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