On Sun, 08 Oct 2006 14:24:40 -0500, H. Adam Stevens, NQ5H wrote:


"Bob Miller" wrote in message
...
[quoted text muted]

When I was building AM broadcast stations, I had a shop make a thin plow
with a tube welded to the back.

Wow! Same here.

Additionally, I had the shop make me a plow hook to help me pull up the
old ground radials as I had a concern for arcing (diode action) between
the new and old ground system. I would pull the plow around with a small
tractor and pull up the old wires.

A friend of mine told me that at Dayton, over the past few years, he has seen a
tool that looks like a lineoleum knife with a small tube welded onto it for
cutting the earth and burying an antenna radial at the same time. You feed the
wire through the tube, and as the tool cuts the earth, it dispenses and buries
the wire. Has anyone seen this tool, and who makes it ??? Where can I buy one
???

As others have mentioned, this sort of system may require more
cutting/pulling force than a human arm/hand can provide safely, unless
your soil is fairly soft.

A tractor- or horse-drawn plow blade, modified slightly, has been used
to do this sort of radial-burying for commercial radio stations. A
blade is made out of thin (but stiff) sheet steel, and (it appears
from the photo here) a bent piece of conduit is welded to the back
edge of the blade to feed the wire into the ground.

A picture of such a plow in use appears on page 189 of Laport's "Radio
Antenna Engineering".

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

Dave Platt wrote:
A friend of mine told me that at Dayton, over the past few years, he
has seen a
tool that looks like a lineoleum knife with a small tube welded onto it for
cutting the earth and burying an antenna radial at the same time. You feed the
wire through the tube, and as the tool cuts the earth, it dispenses and buries
the wire. Has anyone seen this tool, and who makes it ??? Where can I buy one
???

As others have mentioned, this sort of system may require more
cutting/pulling force than a human arm/hand can provide safely, unless
your soil is fairly soft.

A tractor- or horse-drawn plow blade, modified slightly, has been used
to do this sort of radial-burying for commercial radio stations. A
blade is made out of thin (but stiff) sheet steel, and (it appears
from the photo here) a bent piece of conduit is welded to the back
edge of the blade to feed the wire into the ground.

A picture of such a plow in use appears on page 189 of Laport's "Radio
Antenna Engineering".


For a modern version, see http://sm2cew.com/plow.htm

All you need is a Volvo tractor...


--
73 from Ian GM3SEK

"Ian White GM3SEK" wrote in message
...
Dave Platt wrote:
For a modern version, see http://sm2cew.com/plow.htm

All you need is a Volvo tractor...


--
73 from Ian GM3SEK

Probably uses a standard "3 point hook-up". If so, you can probably use any
brand tractor.

Harold
KD5SAK

A friend of mine told me that at Dayton, over the past few years, he has seen a
tool that looks like a lineoleum knife with a small tube welded onto it for
cutting the earth and burying an antenna radial at the same time. You feed the
wire through the tube, and as the tool cuts the earth, it dispenses and buries
the wire. Has anyone seen this tool, and who makes it ??? Where can I buy one
???

Do a google search for 'vibratory plow'. If you are in a big enough city you
might be able to rent one for a weekend. I haven't used one, but I bet it
would be great for radials.

Tor
N4OGW