[TowerTalk] Vertical and ground-radial question?

[Don Havlicek]

Comments inserted below:

Eddy Avila wrote:
> 
> This for the antenna prognosticators......
> 
> I have up in my backyard a ground-mounted Butternut hf2v 80/40 vertical with
> 24 buried radials of various lengths, none of which are of the "optimum"
> lenght, unfortunately. But it works fairly well beating my dipole most of
> the time. (Yes, I know, the dipole at 20' off the ground....well, sucks!!)
> 
> Anyways, my questions is: the wife wants me to cover the entire area above
> the ground radials with chicken wire so the gophers and moles will bump into
> the chicken wire instead of digging up to the surface, so should I bond all
> the chicken wire together and bond it to the ground-radial system??? Will
> this help my signal any? Or may be making things worse?

A ground screen will help a lot; however, those MOLES are eating the
grubs in your yard.  Get rid of the moles and your grass will suffer. 
[Yeah, I know that those tunnels look ugly!].  The only other way to get
rid of the moles is to get rid of the grubs .. topical application of a
good insecticide will do wonders .. but it will also poison the ground
water ... shhhhhhhhhh .. I didn't say that!
And .. a .22 caliber with a good aiming eye will eliminate the gophers!
> 
> Oh, no choice installing the chicken wire...this is a compromise to her
> first wish: pulling the vertical out of the backyard....U G H!
> 
> Thanks mucho!
> 
> 73.......ed
> 
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Where do you get ICE bandpass filters & beverage matching boxes?  The
same place that pays for the hosting of this list:  The eHam Store.
Order online at http://store.eham.net.
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