[TowerTalk] Radial wire

[Bruce Goldstein]

"What type of radial wire?"

My experience with many verticals having ground mounted radials 
is the following:

- The more the merrier!
- The larger the gauge the better.  I once used copper window 
screening for an antenna and it played great with just 2 pieces.  
Flexibility of the wire has been my limiting factor on size (harder to 
staple down).  At the beginning of my vertical times, I used number 
28 wire and found that 30 radials of number 28 were equivalent to 3 
of RG61!  I now try for number 14 as my minimum size.
- I have used mostly copper (both east and west of the Mississippi) 
with satisfactory results.
- I have found that insulation made no difference.  My 'best' radial 
wire was scrap coax with the shield and center conductor shorted 
together at the antenna end.

I no longer even bother to bury the wire.  Just 'staple' it down every 
couple of feet (depending on my estimate of the possibility of 
someone tripping or the lawn mower eating lunch) with alumunum 
fence ties (6 1/2 inch wire with a hook at one end).  Once the 
grass/weeds get a few weeks worth of growth, I can not even find 
most of my radials.

73

Bruce, WA3AFS

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