Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#5
![]() |
|||
|
|||
![]()
On Sat, 17 Jul 2004 10:30:16 -0500, Bob Miller
wrote: I'd like to enhance the pipe with a few buried radials. I happen to have a 500' roll of 14-guage stranded *insulated* copper wire. Will the insulation keep the wire from becoming "one with the dirt"? Or should I go buy some bare solid copper wire? Hi Bob, Insulated will make a poor 60Hz safety ground (which you should connect this ground to anyway). Insulated wire will make a perfectly good RF ground (upwards to 5 orders of magnitude frequency shift makes a considerable difference in what ground "means"). The pipe, on the other hand, serves very little purpose. It is inadequate for a safety ground, and useless for RF and maybe just suitable for providing a mast base. It does give you a physical reference point - kinda like a big solder lug. Use up all your wire and enjoy - another 500 or 5000 feet won't bring as much return as the first 500. For radials, try 10 X 50 feet, or 50 X 10 feet or something in between. 73's Richard Clark, KB7QHC |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
![]() |
||||
Thread | Forum | |||
Inverted ground plane antenna: compared with normal GP and low dipole. | Antenna | |||
Adding lengths to bare wire antenna? | Antenna | |||
QST Article: An Easy to Build, Dual-Band Collinear Antenna | Antenna |