[TowerTalk] Speaking of wire mesh...

[K1TTT]

They may not be perfect, but they do help.  I use that stuff under my 80m
4-square... even with the radials raised up 10' putting 150' of that stuff
under each vertical was still a measurable change to the impedance when I
was putting up the first one and testing it.  I got it in 100' sections from
a local fence installer and put 100' out from the center of the 4-square as
far as it went past each vertical, then a 50' piece at 90 degrees to it
crossing at the base of each vertical.  A 1/8" galvanized cable clamp does a
good job of clamping without need for matching metals if you use galvanized
wire, then use a bigger galvanized clamp to attach to the tower rung.


David Robbins K1TTT
e-mail: mailto:k1ttt at arrl.net
web: http://www.k1ttt.net
AR-Cluster node: 145.69MHz or telnet://dxc.k1ttt.net
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Pete Smith [mailto:n4zr at contesting.com]
> Sent: Sunday, January 17, 2010 15:49
> To: TowerTalk at contesting.com
> Subject: [TowerTalk] Speaking of wire mesh...
> 
> My local farm supply store has rolls of welded steel wire mesh
> (galvanized) with 2 x 4 inch openings, for what seems like a pretty
> reasonable price per square foot.  I am tempted to use crossed strips of
> this stuff at the base of my shunt-fed tower in an effort to reduce
> ohmic losses on 160 and 80 meters, tying them together with split bolts
> and by wire to the plate that terminates my longer radials.
> 
> First, I'm wondering if those openings are small enough that the mesh
> would appear at those frequencies to be equivalent to solid sheets of
> steel?  And if so, would such an addition to my radial system make
> sense?  I was thinking of either 4 x 25-foot strips or 2 x 50 footers.
> 
> --
> 73, Pete N4ZR
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