[TowerTalk] Burying radials

[Rob Atkinson, K5UJ]

Looks like there are lots of options for anchoring radials on the ground.  
Last fall after the grass quit growing I laid out and anchored 22 radials 
using #14 bare 7 strand Cu wire.  I started out making staples by cutting 
and bending coat hangers.  when I had about 40 of them I figured I was 
ready.  I used up all of them on the first 4 or 5 radials.  Next I went to 
Home Depot in search of something I could buy cheap in mass quantities and 
found plastic packages of aluminum chain link fence anchors.  These are 
stiff thin rods about 6" long with an angled hook at the top making each one 
look like a 7 with the top part pointing down.  I could quickly bend that by 
hand to go around the wire and point down so as to be driven into the 
ground.  I got a bunch of these and they worked out okay and this spring I 
was able to mow without clipping any wire (the first time you mow, sharpen 
your blade so if you clip a wire you will slice through it, and get the 
blade up as high as you can--better for the grass anyway).  You want to cut 
the wire if you hit it because the alternative is your blade wrapping and 
reeling in all your wire before you can kill it.  The only downside is that 
the aluminum anchors are a little soft and bend so when I hit a rock I'd 
have to pull one out, move it a few inches and try hammering again.

Rob Atkinson
K5UJ
k5uj at hotmail.com

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