RadioBanter - View Single Post

Michael Coslo · May 16th 07, 04:50 PM posted to rec.radio.amateur.moderated

wrote:

The first method is to get a gardening spade with a straight (flat)
blade. Hold it with the blade vertical and push with your foot so it
makes a straight slit in the turf. Move it one blade-width and
repeat.

Push the wire into the slit with a garden weed puller (long rod with a
forked end.

The second method requires a special homemade tool. Get a linoleum
knife (the kind with a curved blade) and sharpen the outside edge.
Take a piece of ~1/4" copper tubing, bend it to a curve, and solder or
epoxy it to the side of the blade.

The radial wire is fed through the tubing. The knife is pushed into
the ground and pulled along, making a slit and burying the wire at the
same time. Requires soft soil!

--

My favorite trick is to not bury the radials at all.

some snippage

I came up with a pretty quick method which I'll describe he

Before I go into this, the standard disclaimers apply -

I don't suggest anyone do this. It is a potentially dangerous
operation, and involves using sharp instruments that are capable of
causing serious injury or death. Don't even think of doing this. You
have been warned!

I found many of the suggested ways of laying radials either painful
from crouching over the work, too mind numbingly slow, or unsatisfactory
in general - such as laying the radials on the ground and not burying.
The XYL particularly hated the last one.

I thought to myself "There must be a method of doing this that isn't
going to take the whole day and is reasonably automated".

So I set off on a quest. First I looked for an edger. Unfortunately the
least expensive one I could find was around a hundred dollars. To make
matters worse, I wouldn't have much use for it afterwards.

So I did what any other nut would have done, I bought a small electric
chainsaw. for something like 39 dollars.

In use, I stood part way to the side of the cut, starting at the
antenna base. Then pulled the saw back with me to cut the shallow
trench. I found it worked even better if I turned the saw on. I had not
one kickback, although the occasional spark is to be expected when
hitting a rock or pebble.

Then I laid the radial wire in the trench, walked over the cut to
compact and stabilize the buried radial, then attached the radial to my
ground ring.

This was quick, allowed me to install a lot more radials before my back
hurt too much, and only scared the neighbors a little bit.

One other caveat - don't expect the chain to be very sharp after this
bit of abuse. I needed to get another chain to restore the saw to it's
proper wood cutting use.

And of course, this isn't going to work if you live in a place like New
Hampshire, where the soil tends to be made of solid granite.

Like I said before, this is only something I did. In no way is it to be
construed as a suggestion. Don't do it.

- 73 de Mike KB3EIA -