[TowerTalk] Radials - bare or insulated?

[Jim Lux]

At 02:57 AM 8/22/2006, Jim Miller wrote:
>Is there an advantage to using bare radial wires vs. insulated to get 
>electrical contact with earth?  I used insulated 22 gauge wire (1000 ft) 
>for radials around my vertical thinking it would last longer than bare 
>wire.  Now I wonder if I hurt the performance.


I would think not.  You're concerned about RF currents, and the dielectric 
around the wire just makes it look like a series capacitor (but one of very 
low impedance) to the surrounding soil.