Continue to use the radials on top of the roof... Install the mesh
under the roof (attic I assume) and lap it over the rafters and just
twist the free ends to each other so that the mesh is relatively one
piece... Don't bother with solder.. Don't waste your time connecting
the radials to the mesh... The radials will couple with the mesh
electromagnetically...

If you are planning on putting the mesh out on the roof ( I would not
because it will rust and disintegrate in just a few years.) It has to
go underneath the radials, not over them... Again, do not mechanically
connect the radials to the steel... Just the proximity will couple
them... Think twice about putting the mesh outside... You will have a
nasty mess very soon...

denny / k8do

"Denny" wrote in message
ups.com...
Continue to use the radials on top of the roof... Install the mesh
under the roof (attic I assume) and lap it over the rafters and just
twist the free ends to each other so that the mesh is relatively one
piece... Don't bother with solder.. Don't waste your time connecting
the radials to the mesh... The radials will couple with the mesh
electromagnetically...

If you are planning on putting the mesh out on the roof ( I would not
because it will rust and disintegrate in just a few years.) It has to
go underneath the radials, not over them... Again, do not mechanically
connect the radials to the steel... Just the proximity will couple
them... Think twice about putting the mesh outside... You will have a
nasty mess very soon...

denny / k8do


Thanks Denny but unfortunately the flat roof has no access under. As far as
I can judge the ceilings have about a foot of insulation and beams above
then (probably) timber and is covered in several layers of heavy duty
bitumen based roofing material. The mesh will have to go on top as I think
the XYL would complain if I stapled it to the lounge ceiling.
The chicken wire will have a secondary function of deterring the large
number of seagulls that plague the town (Dover) :-)
Dick G4BBH

Dick, the usual galvanised, chicken wire available in the USA is good
for 3 seasons near the ocean, tops... Then they turn into rust balls...
Unless your chicken farmers there near the coast have better materials
available I would be wary...
The gulls that hang around my boat will stand on anything, I doubt that
chicken wire would bother them... I also doubt that putting the mesh on
the roof will make a major improvement in signal strength, especially
if it is above the radials... First your radials are already elevated
above the ground a significant fraction of a wave which reduces ground
losses... Putting your money/energy into having 6 or 8 quarter wave
radials for each band is more likely to show a better result...

cheers ... denny / k8do