For past Field Days, I've used old telephone cable. Mark the cable for
each band's radial length, open the cable and cut one of the conductors for
that band. When I used open wire I usually made the radial about 5% longer,
but if it's jacketed, I just cut it to length. Quick and dirty way to get a
single run up with multi band radials. If you can get them up over 8' is
best both for safety and performance. The Ground plane will have a low take
off (not so great for FD).
With the same amount of work, a horizontal loop fed with open wire feeders
would probably be a better choice or even a Zepp cut for the lowest band.
Of course these would need a tuner, and that opens up Pandora's box for the
casual Op who want's to change bands and doesn't normally deal with tuners.
I used one of Carolina Windom's Superloops for several Field Days hung in an
inclined plane. It worked very well on all bands and could normally be
matched with the ATU of most transceivers. We ran QRP and everyone was
always amazed at how well we got out on 80M and 40M. I also put up an 40M
Bobtail that worked great but we only had to point it NNW from Florida to
work the US for FD.
Of course, we're also Oceanfront here and surrounded by saltwater, so most
anything worked well.
YMMV,
73 es GL,
Jon Hamlet, W4ZW
Casey Key Island, Florida
"A little piece of paradise in the Gulf of Mexico"
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