[TowerTalk] radials

[StellarCAT]

Agreed Jim,

I bought a 6000' roll of #18 insulated from DelCity  a while back - got it 
on sale for $183 including shipping .... it was in a self storage with lots 
of other things which ended up getting broken in to and stolen. Also they 
took the electronics for a Hi-Z 4 sq and all the hardware for a M2 10M7DX 
that I had separated in to a bucket. Now DelCity wants $350 for the same 
wire.  I can get #14 THHN insulated from HD for $26/500'. So that's what 
I'll go with.

I've decided to stick with my original plan of doing 40 125' radials (the 
original original when I had the 6000' roll was 50 of these ... oh well - 
I'm sure no difference).

Gary
K9RX



-----Original Message----- 
From: Jim Brown
Sent: Thursday, December 1, 2016 2:24 PM
To: towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] radials

On Thu,12/1/2016 11:04 AM, w5jmw at towerfarm.net wrote:
> As long as we are on this subject.What abt wire diameter of the radials.Is 
> there a desired size.Does say #22 work as well as #12. current tarvels on 
> the outside.

In general, using wire larger than #18 is for mechanical strength rather
than resistance, and even conductors as small as the #24-26 used in CAT5
cable have been successfully used in large on-ground radial systems
where there are a large number of radials. If you're installing only a
few radials, I would consider #18 a minimum size if you plan to run high
power simply to avoid overheating the conductor near the feedpoint
(where current is usually a maximum).

I use #14 THHN (ordinary house wire) because I can easily buy 500 ft
spools at good prices from my local big box store. I would use #18 if I
could buy it as easily and cheaply. But there is considerable
convenience in being able to put 4 spools on a rod, and measure off 4
radials at a time. :)

73, Jim K9YC