At 02:15 PM 5/10/2006, Richard Williams wrote:
>Question - Do you have to use the same size wire for all the radials under a
>vertical? What if you use two different gauges of wife (say #14 and #18);
>14 has the capability to carry more current than 18, so does that mean the
>14 gauge wire carrys the lions share and the #18 radials are effectively
>"not in the picture". Or when using a lot of radials is the current so
>small in each that it doesn't make any difference if you use different size
>wire in the ground radial system
Not a huge amount of current in the wire, so melting isn't an issue. So,
what you're looking at is resistance. It's RF, so the current is in the
surface of the wire, and the resistance will go roughly linearly as the
diameter. AWG14 is a bit more than 1.4 times the diameter of AWG18, so the
resistance is about 40% lower. Since AWG 18 less than half the price of
AWG14, you might actually be better off with more thinner wire.
As far as mixing.. I doubt you could tell any difference.
>I am sure with more knowledge on the subject than me will be able to "set
>the record straight" and dispell any myths on ground radials systems.
>
>Dick K8ZTT
>
>
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