[TowerTalk] Raised Radial Spacing

[jim.thom jim.thom@telus.net]

Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2025 09:39:58 -0500
From: Robie Elms <ruler55 at gmail.com>
Cc: towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Raised Radial Spacing


>All,

>In early 2025 a local ham passed away.  His widow asked me to dismantle his
>station and sell the equipment.  He lived on a suburban lot and used a
>SteppIR vertical.  Some years ago he described the installation which
>consisted of several pieces of galvanized fencing, bonded together as his
>"radial system".  The system performed well based on his feedback and
>monitoring his on the air performance.   I was asked to remove the
>antenna.  When I did so I found that the galvanized fencing near the base
>of the antenna had completely disintegrated.  I did not find any solid
>"wire" within about 18" of the antenna base. Corrosion had taken its toll
>on the installation.  Since I was removing the antenna I did not
i>nvestigate any further.

>I'm not sharing this to discourage individuals from taking this approach,
>but simply to point out one potential issue.

>Some further information:


>3.  I use locally sourced galvanized fencing for traditional purposes and
notice that some of it begins rusting within 18 months or so.


>Robie AJ4F

Points well taken.   Acidic soil is worse than alkaline soil.  Fellow
across town had a rental home back in 1980, and installed the 50' guyed
Delhi ltower by digging a hole and putting the bottom section into it, aprx
2.5' deep.   When he removed it  10 years later, it had just about
dissolved !   Your notes twigged my long forgotten memory of that event.

For the case of the radials for the 43' tall vertical, a better method
would be to just buy some spools of 10-12-14 ga insulated copper wire.
300m rolls of of 10 ga, RW-90 power cable was 'cheap'  back around 1997.
 Copper prices in the last 3 years have skyrocketed.

The thought of slitting the backyard up to install buried radials makes me
gag, not gonna happen.

Jim  VE7RF