[TowerTalk] quickie beverage tips for the snowy northeast

[RICHARD BOYD]

I was out messing with "snowbound" beverage wires this morning and came up with a couple ideas.  The wires were already rolled out, under the snow, but I was able to pull them up out of the snow, for the most part.

  1.. When you have "snowpack" like we have here in Maryland, you can walk on top of the snow easily, unlike a week ago when it was knee-deep or deeper and difficult going. 
  2.. It's very quick to put up beverage supports in this kind of snow -- I'm using busted lengths of Polygon guy rod and it jams down into the snow easily, by hand.  In fact, the ground is thawed enough under the snow that the rod pokes into the dirt some without even hammering it.  Before the snow melts it should be quick to tap the rod down further to make them continue to stand even when the snow melts. 
  3.. Readily available non-conducting alternatives to scrap guy rod would be fiberglass electric fence posts available at farm supply stores (e.g. Southern States or FCA)f and perhaps from Home Depot or Lowe's.  Or, fiberglass gardening poles that I've seen in green fiberglass.  The beverage wire can attach directly to these non-conducting supports without insulators.  Electric fencing is typically attached with a short length of wire twisted onto the fence wire on each side of and around the non-conducting post. 
  4.. Beverage wire also readily available, Home Depot and Lowe's, 500' spool of 14 gauge insulated for $15, 12 gauge for $20 as I recall.  I'm using 14.  The 500' length should be close enough to what you want to work even without measuring, just for a quickie beverage. 
  5.. If you can, have the feedpoint of the beverages near your coax entry to the house or hamshack to keep the coax requirement low, e.g. 20-50'.
You should be able to install a 500' beverage in 10 minutes under the current conditions, once you've assembled the materials.

73- Rich, KE3Q