Nice huh?
That is Neat City.
Hi: Nice picture there, i like. Here is some tib bits.
1) You know in the arrl book they recomend 8th wave grounding over 1/4 wave grounding.
2) 8th wave you need a little more wires, But it preforms better over 1/4 grounding.
3) Have you tried heavy gauge wires like no. 1-10 to see preformance?
4) Have you tried flat copper braids at all to see its preformance?
I thought i throw in some stuff. Jeff
Mmm, looks nice, Solid Coverage. One thing though, how will you get those radials down under the sod, so that the tractor doesn't hit them when cutting the grass?
If it's a grassy area usually just pinning them down every 6 to 8 feet will keep them tight so a mower won't catch them. After a couple mowings they become fairly well meshed into the grass. In a couple months it's hard to even pull them up.
That's a great idea! The guides I've seen tell people to cut a slit into the ground and stick the radial down into it, which would be a pain with that many, and cut up the lawn too.
Somewhere I read about a Tourist Info Station that uses a wide pipe buried deep for a good ground without instead of radials, anybody see that? The idea is you could put the antenna in a park or public area where the lawn couldn't be cut up, or radials run and the deep ground would take the place of radials. Has anyone tried such a thing on their home Part 15 stations, does it work? I could see it being a great idea on a small city yard, or sites where a landlord would allow a pole, but not radials to be put in.
The pole was bigger than a ground rod, not huge but more than a few inches wide I think. You could have Auger Service come in and make a hole pretty cheap, and have most of the pole under ground.
Home improvement stores carry just what you need to hold the radial wires down.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Orbit-1-2-in-5-8-in-Loop-Stake-Pack-of-10-65731/202937787
Or... you can make your own
From all the reading I've done about ground radials for part 15 I'm left with the belief that the radials need to be near the surface of the earth, not buried too deep.
Assuming I am right about that, I have also heard many testimonials about the benefits of salty sea water, which purportedly increases the radiant outreach of a station significantly.
Well, wouldn't it therefore be smart to mix bags of salt into the radials located inland away from the ocean?
Hi Guys: I have heard several people that salt water will increase the range.
Here is a construstion plan for building of a salt water ground i haven't tryed it, But i thought of it.
1) Take a copper pipe any length & width of your choice
(Cap 1 end for now ).
2) Drill small hole in copper pipe (Just a few holes ).
3) Get some rock salt ( size according to pipe size ). fill it up then cap it shut and make the top excessable to refill when needed.
4) You probably can lay down in a horizontial or vertical position.
It something to try to see if it works,Just an idea.
If you try it let me know how it works.
You can use your septic drain field as your ground as well.
station 8
Just to note that if the conductivity of the physical earth to a depth of several inches and more that is present within a 1/2-wavelength horizontal radius from the base of a vertical monopole is equal to that of sea water (~ 5,000 mS/m), then the r-f loss of that ground plane is close to zero no matter the number/form of the conductors that are buried or immersed in it, and used as an r-f ground for that monopole system.
A commenter elsewhere posted on the (im)practicality of "floating" radial wires in this situation due to storms and passing ships.
However the floating of numerous, conventional radial wires of 1/4-wavelength and more (each) is not required for an excellent r-f ground when the ground plane itself has the conductivity of sea water.
All that is required for this is to connect to a small conducting area such as a copper plate buried/immersed directly under the base of the monopole radiator, such as is used as an r-f ground on ocean-going vessels. Such configurations would be little affected by storms and/or the waves of passing ships.
Probably most people having work/electronic experience in naval operations could be expected to recognize and support this reality.
Thank you Rich.
Upon two readings of your salt water presentation, I am left with the impression that the concept of salting the earth in the vicinity of radials on the surface of the ground is a meaningful idea destined for success.
No ocean going vessels have passed near here in over 20-years, although storms are frequent given climate collapse.
Now we need to determine an ideal type of salt, i.e., rock salt for roads, table salt, sea salt, other.
Jeff, I think your idea would keep the salt from reaching the ground, because it would be shielded inside the copper pipe.
Corrosion might be a problem.
My next idea is to surround the radials with a slight retaining method to maintain moisture at the radials for an extended period.
Perhaps Jeff's idea would take on a different effect if the perferated copper pipes loaded with salt were plumbed in such a way that a "drip" system would cause the salt to disperse by way of weep holes in the pipes.
Several pipe radials connected to a manifold with a slow but steady stream of water would do the trick.
It would be problematic to load the pipes with salt so perhaps a slowly applied brine would work better.
Based on MRAM's suggestion I have begun a study of "brine," and the first thing I learned is good to share:
It is held that 0 °F (−17.78 °C) was initially set as the zero point in the Fahrenheit temperature scale, as it was the coldest temperature that Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit could reliably reproduce by freezing brine.
Hi Guys: I did mention to drill holes in the copper pipe.
You sure did, Jeff.