Over the past 10 years the price of copper per pound has gone from
around $2 to over $5 on the London Metals Exchange. The supply and
demand are driving this as copper gets squeezed by mining problems and
demand from the power industry and the construction of AI computing
facilities. The end result for hams is that the standard ground
system is becoming financially out of reach for the average casual
operator on the low bands. Even a 160 meter half wave dipole is
getting pricey and a cage dipole? Forget it. I used to give hams
some flack for being stingy on the number of radials they deploy
because the barrier used to just be laziness, but now a decent ground
system costs serious money, especially on 160 m. Cost saving measures
such as elevated radials deserve consideration.
73
Rob
K5UJ
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