At 06:55 AM 2/12/2007, Steve Miller wrote:
>This may be the wrong place to ask (in which case, please direct me to
>the right one!) but I am interested to know what affect wire size has on
>a radial system. Must one use #14 stranded or will #26 insulated work
>okay.
Sure.. the smaller wire will work. Slightly less well (because the
resistance is higher..) AWG14 is roughly 4 times the diameter of
AWG26, so the resistance (for RF, depending on frequency) will be
1/4th... It will also cost about 16 times more (based on copper cost
only). However, since the wire resistance is SO much lower than the
soil it's embedded in, it might not make a heck of a lot of difference.
Assuming you have a certain number of pounds of copper to distribute,
more smaller wires generally works better than fewer thicker wires
(until you get to where the wires are very, very close together).
> The plan is to make it capable of handling full legal power
>though I rarely use that.
Say you are dumping 2000W CW into the vertical antenna, and it has a
base impedance of 34 ohms... Ohms law says that you've got a current
of around 8 Amps total. Say you're dividing that up among, oh, 60
radials.. that's 130 mA per radial, well within the current handling
ability of AWG26.
> Will larger wire have any more of a
>broadband affect than smaller wire?
Assuming your radials are laying on or in the ground, nope.
>My thoughts lean toward using 60
>radials. Thanks for your help!! Steve N0SM
Go for it.
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