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
???


RON...KA2IIA
================================================== ======
Remove the ZZZ from my E-mail address to send me E-mail.

"Ron Goldstein--KA2IIA" wrote in message
...
: 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
: ???

Sounds like a mini ditch witch LOL!

:
:
: RON...KA2IIA
: ================================================== ======
: Remove the ZZZ from my E-mail address to send me E-mail.

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:

On Thu, 28 Sep 2006 00:13:54 GMT, (Ron
Goldstein--KA2IIA) 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
???

------------ REPLY FOLLOWS ------------

This isn't what you asked, but you might consider not burying the
radials at all unless you have to. Radials on top of the ground are
slightly more efficient because the RF energy does not have to
penetrate the lossy earth to reach the radials. If you have grass,
just lay the radials down and tack them in place with some homemade
staples. In a few months the grass will grow over them and you'll
never see them again.

Of course, if you're putting them on top of bare earth, you may have
to bury them for safety reasons.

Just a thought.

Bill, W6WRT

I can second that method from personal experience. When I installed my
ground mounted Hustler 5-BTV I laid the 72 radials on top of the ground (
this happened to be in the dead of winter with very little grass height) and
held them in place with 1 1/2" "fence staples" pushed into the earth. I then
covered them lightly with some soil and next summer they were well beneath
the grass height and no issues with the lawn mower.

Pictures (before & after) of the entire installation here at this page.

1. http://www.ad5th.com/5-BTV.html

73,
Charlie - AD5TH



"Bill Turner" wrote in message
...
ORIGINAL MESSAGE:

On Thu, 28 Sep 2006 00:13:54 GMT, (Ron
Goldstein--KA2IIA) 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
???

------------ REPLY FOLLOWS ------------

This isn't what you asked, but you might consider not burying the
radials at all unless you have to. Radials on top of the ground are
slightly more efficient because the RF energy does not have to
penetrate the lossy earth to reach the radials. If you have grass,
just lay the radials down and tack them in place with some homemade
staples. In a few months the grass will grow over them and you'll
never see them again.

Of course, if you're putting them on top of bare earth, you may have
to bury them for safety reasons.

Just a thought.

Bill, W6WRT

Chain Saw ??

Caveat Lector wrote:
Chain Saw ??


I used a chain saw to cut troughs for my radials. It worked pretty
well. It also worked fast. The chain isn't much good for anything else,
so an old chain would be best.


a bit of disclaimer:

Yes, I know it's a crazy thing to do, and I don't advise using a chain
saw to dig troughs for radials. Don't ever ever ever use a chain saw for
that purpose........

- 73 de Mike KB3EIA -

Hi, Ron.
Are you thinking of a hand operated tool or one that is pulled by a
tractor?


Paul, KD7HB

Ron Goldstein--KA2IIA 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
???


RON...KA2IIA
================================================== ======
Remove the ZZZ from my E-mail address to send me E-mail.

On Thu, 28 Sep 2006 00:13:54 GMT, (Ron
Goldstein--KA2IIA) 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
???


RON...KA2IIA

I would think that cutting through grass roots plus the soil would
require soft soil and even then I would suspect a fair amount of force
would be required. Plus trying to maintain a decent cutting edge might
be a problem.

I used a different approach. I installed an additional cutting blade
(to increase width) on a gas powered lawn edger then used it to cut
very small trenches about 2-3 inches deep. Then I just placed the wire
in the trenches. It worked well - even in hard dry soil - but you'll
get good a dirty doing the job. Throws dirt right up into your face so
be sure to ware eye protection.

73,
Danny, K6MHE

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