[Hallicrafters] Grounding A Vertical Antenna

[Anthony W. DePrato WA4JQS]

At 05:53 PM 8/31/2004 -0400, Duane Fischer, W8DBF wrote:
>"just lay these on the surface of the ground" What about mowing your grass?
>Should they not be tacked down or buried?
i have build and used verticals for years.. and i take care of the radial 
problem two ways.
1. if in the fall when i put the wire down i just put out a lot of grass 
seed in feb and march for kentucky. and let the grass grow about 2 to 3 
inches tall before cutting the first time then i put the mower on the 
highest setting. after about 3 or 4 cuttings i set the mower to the normal 
lever and cut the grass. have NEVER caught a wire yet. and it has been 35 
yrs of doing this.
2. if in the summer i just lay the wire on the ground  put the grass seed 
too it. and then get 20 bags of top soil at lowes for 20 bucks and cover 
the wires.. then walk over the dirt a few times.. i again set the mower 
high for the next few cuttings till the grass gets a good start then go 
back to normal..
works for me.
and yes the more radials above 8 you can get the better your return is .. 
and yes 8 is the standard min number needed for a vertical.. per the books..
73 Tony
wa4jqs.
p.s. before i became a SK Bill Orr and i spoke quite often about antenna's 
and if you want to get a good down to earth book on antennas get one of 
bill's books..