Bob, when I moved to a home with a 4 acre plot the previous owner left an
old Sears riding mower. It was unusual in that it had a lever on the side
which raised and lowered a plow head ( I think they are called molds). It
had a curved arm similar to the one in K8FC's photo but much smaller. I
built an attachment similar to his to plant radials. The head was made of
1/4 thick steel plate. The forward part of the plate was sloped back at
about a 30-40 degree angle. This makes a downward force when it is pulled
thru the ground. The bottom of the plate was horizontal and about 6 inches
long. The rear of the plate was curved gradually so that at the top it was
parallel to the front edge of the plate. At the bottom rear corner it was
parallel to the ground. On the rear curved surface was tack welded a piece
of steel brake line tubing extending from the top all the way to the bottom
of the plate where it was horizontal. I fed the radial wire down thru this
tube so it exited horizontally behind the blade as it was pulled along. I
used it a while this way but the welding on the steel tube caused some
roughness on the inside and sometimes the wire did not run thru smoothly. I
then put a piece of teflon spagetti down thru the tube and the wire inside
it. A bit of tape around the top of the spagetti kept it in place. This
system worked extremely well. I put down 40 nr 16 bare radials for each of
my 4 80m verticals. I also put down 16 160m radials on another tower in
about 1 hour. At the tower base I made a small ditch about 6 inches deep
around the tower so the head of the plow could be inserted into it and
pulled horizontally. The end of the radial wire was connected to the tower
base temporarily to hold it in place.
-----Original Message-----
From: towertalk-bounces@contesting.com
[mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com]On Behalf Of AD5VJ Bob
Sent: Saturday, November 17, 2007 7:52 PM
To: 'Joe Wilkowski'; K2EK@aol.com; towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Cable Treatment Suggestions
Now this is truly worth mentioning. Thanks for the idea. I am going to work
on something I hope I can pull behind my riding lawn
mower. I have been trying to think of a way to do it economically and this
gives me an idea.
Will it work through rocky soil also?
tnx Bob AD5VJ
> -----Original Message-----
> From: towertalk-bounces@contesting.com
> [mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Joe Wilkowski
> Sent: Saturday, November 17, 2007 1:23 PM
> To: K2EK@aol.com; towertalk@contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Cable Treatment Suggestions
>
> Bill, sorry I have not been able to get to this for a couple
> of days. I read your post below and as they say a picture is
> worth a thousand words.
> http://www.k8fc.com/radial_plow.htm
>
> Anyway, I originally built this to lay electric fence
> underground for pet containment but found it to be very
> useful for other ham radio endeavors. I have successfully
> laid countless thousands of feet of wire with this tool.
> Also, I have dug trenches for buried hardline and control
> cables with out a hitch.
>
> Probably overkill for you but it may inspire a couple of ideas.
>
> Joe K8FC
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <K2EK@aol.com>
> To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
> Sent: Monday, November 12, 2007 5:00 PM
> Subject: [TowerTalk] Cable Treatment Suggestions
>
>
> > Ever since I moved here I always seem to have some LONG
> cable run that
> > needs
> > to be buried just enough to avoid a mower encounter....
> >
> > The really large hard-line run, plus assorted control
> cables, beverage
> > cable,
> > shack cable bundle, etc... (probably 800 feet worth), were
> handled with a
> > rental trencher. Worked great. Not inexpensive plus a
> few hours driving
> > and a
> > 100 miles of back and forth gas... Not conducive to
> impulse creation.
> >
> > Has anyone here ever built or acquired a simple, small plow
> blade, scoop,
> > digger suitable for a decent sized garden tractor yet
> capable of digging
> > enough
> > trench to bury control line, RG6 bev lines or even a run of
> RG8 (I use
> > that
> > generically).... Something in the 1 - 2 inch deep by 1 or
> 2 inch wide
> > category....
> >
> > 73 de Bill
> > K2EK
> >
> >
> >
> > ************************************** See what's new at
> > http://www.aol.com
> > _______________________________________________
> >
> >
> >
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> >
>
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