when I buried all of the cables for my tower 100m from the shack, a
neighbor used his small tractor to pull an ancient small modified plow.
The left side of the blade was removed, so it cut a small furrow and
flipped the lawn and field sod to just one side. This took 10-15
minutes. I stood on the plow and held it upright. Then I dropped the
cables onto the hole and flipped the sod back over it with my foot.
This would still be a lot of work for a radial field. A device to slit
the ground and bury the wire ij one step is shown in ON4UN's Low Band
DXing book.
I used cheap insulated army field phone wire for radials in the unused
field that I mowed first. Insulation makes zero difference. Nec4.2
agrees.
Too bad the livestock are there. In one season here the weeds & grass
grew up and were matted down by snow & rain so you would never know I
had laid 137 radials on the surface!
On 6/6/2018 7:31 PM, VK3HJ wrote:
Later this year, I plan to lay down an in-ground radial field. I have
sourced a copper wire supplier and have costed approximately 2000 m of
1.2 mm bare copper at around $800.
Presently, I use an elevated counterpoise of 4 x quarterwave radials
each for 180 and 80 m.
I need to lay the wire just under the turf as I have livestock in the
paddock.
The radial field will be mostly in shallow mountain soil, with a
couple of surface granite rocks to negotiate, as well as a large gum
tree on one edge with many surface roots.
I have a tractor, but feel that this will churn up the ground too much
with the density of the work to be done. I have a ride-on mower that
may be more useful.
I will need to lay in the radials by hand around the rocks and tree
roots, but would like to do it more easily for the rest of the job!
What sort of implement can I obtain or create for this job?
73,
Luke VK3HJ
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