Have any of you ever used a gas powered lawn edger to bury a cable/s? I was
thinking of trying this. I wonder if I set the edger blade at about 2 " or
so deep and took my time if it would work. I need to bury 3 cables from my
Direct TV dish and a RG8 coax from my vertical to my house. Please post if
you think this would work or have tried it.
Thanks.

Joe wrote:
Have any of you ever used a gas powered lawn edger to bury a cable/s? I
was thinking of trying this. I wonder if I set the edger blade at about
2 " or so deep and took my time if it would work. I need to bury 3
cables from my Direct TV dish and a RG8 coax from my vertical to my
house. Please post if you think this would work or have tried it.
Thanks.

Got a four wheel drive?

In the past, I have just chained a wide crowbar to the hitch, at a low
point on the bar, held it up-right and had the wife idle forward in the
line I had for the coax. Two/three passes got me the depth I wished ...
some cleaning of the trench was done after ... easiest I have found.
Have used this for radials also ... but, would NOT be suited for ones
small yard.

However, in very rocky soil I wonder how well it would work?

Regards,
JS

Have any of you ever used a gas powered lawn edger to bury a cable/s?
I was thinking of trying this. I wonder if I set the edger blade at
about 2 " or so deep and took my time if it would work. I need to bury
3 cables from my Direct TV dish and a RG8 coax from my vertical to my
house. Please post if you think this would work or have tried it.

I have tried this. It worked ok for smaller RG6-sized cable for my
beverages. It was fairly time-consuming and not that easy to do. The
slot cut by the edger I have is too narrow to bury RG8 sized cable easily
however.

Tor
N4OGW

Joe wrote:
Have any of you ever used a gas powered lawn edger to bury a cable/s? I
was thinking of trying this. I wonder if I set the edger blade at about
2 " or so deep and took my time if it would work. I need to bury 3
cables from my Direct TV dish and a RG8 coax from my vertical to my
house. Please post if you think this would work or have tried it.
Thanks.
===========================
Apart from with which equipment you bury the coax cables ,I would
recommend that you run the cables inside plastic (polyethylene) water
pipe instead of allowing the cables to be buried directly .You then can
use 'normal' coax including the 75 Ohms stuff used for satellite TV dish.
Where the pipe with cables come out of the ground make a 180 degree bend
such that the open end points downwards ,avoiding water ingress while
keeping an open vent preventing condensation inside the plastic pipe.

The plastic pipe also provides mechanical protection .

I installed a TV satellite dish in the garden running the coax
underground as per the above .
That was 16 years ago ..............never had a problem !


Frank , GM0CSZ/KN6WH in wet northern Scotland

Better way!

Borrow a couple of cymbols from someone (large concave disks). Remove
wheel from wheel barrow. Bolt cymbols together in place of the
wheel. Fill wheel barrow with required amount of weight for deep
enough trench. Have wife push it where the trench needs to go. Stamp
down sides of trench after laying cables. Easy! Oh, return cymbols
after cleaning. Good luck about the 'wife' part! (Tell'em it builds
particular sets of muscles groups, that ought'a help?)
- 'Doc

"Highland Ham" wrote in message
...

snip

I would
recommend that you run the cables inside plastic (polyethylene) water
pipe instead of allowing the cables to be buried directly .You then can
use 'normal' coax including the 75 Ohms stuff used for satellite TV dish.
Where the pipe with cables come out of the ground make a 180 degree bend
such that the open end points downwards ,avoiding water ingress while
keeping an open vent preventing condensation inside the plastic pipe.

The plastic pipe also provides mechanical protection .

I also did a successful cable run inside plastic pipe. I used PVC 20 years
ago and not a problem since.

Some cable is advertised for "Direct Burial" but, based on the amount of
foot traffic over the area, I elected to use the pipe for the mechanical
protection. Pulling the cable was a tough job because I underestimated the
size pipe I needed. I finally had to cut the pipe and pull the cables in in
two sessions. I included a union in my final pull and cemented the halves
together before filling in the ditch.

On Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:55:50 -0500, "Joe" wrote:

Have any of you ever used a gas powered lawn edger to bury a cable/s? I was
thinking of trying this. I wonder if I set the edger blade at about 2 " or
so deep and took my time if it would work. I need to bury 3 cables from my
Direct TV dish and a RG8 coax from my vertical to my house. Please post if
you think this would work or have tried it.
Thanks.
Everything depends on soil conditions...
John Ferrell W8CCW

"Joe" wrote in message
. ..
Have any of you ever used a gas powered lawn edger to bury a cable/s? I
was thinking of trying this. I wonder if I set the edger blade at about 2
" or so deep and took my time if it would work. I need to bury 3 cables
from my Direct TV dish and a RG8 coax from my vertical to my house.
Please post if you think this would work or have tried it.
Thanks.
sounds like a good idea - might try using 2 blades if you can.
I have also heard of buying a new chain and bar for your chainsaw, then
using the OLD one to cut a path through the yard.
But whatever you do, do not even think of touching a shovel - that would be
un-ham-like. :-)

"Hal Rosser" wrote in
:

I have also heard of buying a new chain and bar for your chainsaw,
then using the OLD one to cut a path through the yard.

In this part of the world, you can rent a Ditch-Witch or Trench-Wench which
use a similar concept, but the chain carries cutters designed for earth and
rocks rather than one designed for wet timber.

Ditch-Witchs and Trench-Wenchs aren't very good for cutting trees, nor are
chainsaws very good for digging trenches.

You don't have to invent a new tool for this application, plumbers and
electricians have been inserting narrow conduits / pipes in earth trenches
for decades using these types of machines.

An alternative to renting a machine may be to find a plumber who
specialiese in in-ground sprinkler systems... and get a quote for him to
dig your trenches.

Owen

Owen Duffy wrote:
"Hal Rosser" wrote in
:

I have also heard of buying a new chain and bar for your chainsaw,
then using the OLD one to cut a path through the yard.

In this part of the world, you can rent a Ditch-Witch or Trench-Wench which
use a similar concept, but the chain carries cutters designed for earth and
rocks rather than one designed for wet timber.

Ditch-Witchs and Trench-Wenchs aren't very good for cutting trees, nor are
chainsaws very good for digging trenches.

Perhaps. But I use a chainsaw none the less. I've got a cheap electric
one just for the purpose.

You don't have to invent a new tool for this application, plumbers and
electricians have been inserting narrow conduits / pipes in earth trenches
for decades using these types of machines.

Ah, but that rental cost is something. I'd be looking at hundreds of
dollars each time I do it. Thousands if I hire someone.

That 40 dollars I spent for the electric chansaw is cheap by comparison.
And very very quick. Yeah, it ruins the chainsaw blade and bar. At 40
dollars, I consider the whole thing disposable. I could buy a lot of
them for the price of renting the trencher.


I should make the standard disclaimer here. I'm not suggesting that
anyone use this method, In fact, don't try this at home kids. Anything
sharp can be dangerous, so leave everything you do to the professionals.
(that was a disclaimer, not a jab at your sugesstions, Owen)

An alternative to renting a machine may be to find a plumber who
specialiese in in-ground sprinkler systems... and get a quote for him to
dig your trenches.


I've always had the problem of wanting to do so many things, yet my
resources are a little limited. So I get a little creative at times.


- 73 de Mike N3LI -