Burying radials

[k3rojal]

I helped a friend mount his 6BTV and instead of radials we used his chain link fence which ran 5 feet from the antenna. He does very well using it and lot's of DX.

[patdawn1]

MUDDUCK

[TheJasperkitty]

I have 30 radials laid down in the winter when the grass is brown, and I made "lawn staples" out of coathangers with each side about 4". One at the end with the radial tied to it to keep it stretched, then one staple every 10 feet. When summer came, the grass grew up around them (including the RG8 feedline which I lawn stapled every 6 feet), After two years you can't even see them. But in the interim, the lawn stables hold the wire down so the lawnmower doesn't get them.

[py1hy]

Nice video Dominic.

73

PY1HY

[24nov67]

i thought you only had to ground these antennas for 80 metres?

[floydiangreen]

22c and you call that hot! come to australia and experience our 44c days!

[GeneDunno]

Very smart idea Mark! My job for next summer.

73s

[handsupbud]

Is that a wig you're wearing?

[HerbBeamish]

handsupbud....Is that a Brain you are using?

[m3xlipat]

my dad as this ant and its rubbish he had more radils than a power company and it was well tunned for low swr and still it was rubbish on transmit and rx rubbish how did you go with this ?

[crezz2]

Nice job!. Ive done 12x16 foot radials for my stepp IR bigIR, works very well!.

I used a large pocket knife to cut the lawn to about 2" deep. After about a day or so your would not know they are there.I'll have to do a vid, keep up the good work......M3KOL

[markbeermonster]

Excellent video Dominic

I've just bought the Hustler BTV6 aswell , it arrived today.

I've already got maybe 15-20 radials already buried attached to my earth stake outside the shack connected to my tuner so I might have to pull them up as they will proberbly touch the radials on the hustler.... :(

Thanks for sharing with us

I look forward to hearing you on the bands

73

Mark

M6RKY

[dnas2]

Hi Mark,

Well done on getting your licence and hope you enjoy the antenna.

Hope to hear you on sometime.

73, Dominic M0BLF.

[Karl036]

Well done..

73..Karl

VK7HDX

[K9FON]

I just simply tacked down 50 radials on the top of the soil. The grass will grow and pull the wires down to the surface of the soil and eventually i wont be able to see them.

[dnas2]

Hi, That's a great idea but wouldn't have worked for me: my parents were away on holiday at the time and I needed the radials to be hidden before they got back :) 73

[K9FON]

Ok. Well what you did will work well. So have you had a chance to really use the 6 BTV on any long distance DX? I have not had a real chance to use mine yet.

[dnas2]

I've had some DX on it but I'm in a valley here which doesn't make life easy. Best DX in the last about 3.5 years that I've had it up has been JA in CQ WW CW 2008.

[freddo27]

@dnas2 One day you'll be hiding them from your wife.

[weazlechin]

i want to mount mine on the eves of my roof 30 feet up, should i just run a grounding wire and spike down the wall and into the ground??

[dnas2]

Hi, I have to say that I don't know the answer to this question as I have no experience at all with HF elevated radials. If anyone else knows, I'm sure that they will add a reply here for you.

[RadioDoctor714]

Nice job.

With the next batch of wire you get try putting up a horizontal loop. Maybe a delta configuration and point it over the pond and we can QSO. Then you can sell the vertical and put up more loops.

Yes, I love my loops..

Ken

N4zed

[combatwombat71]

Nice to see an amateur that understands the earth is just as vitally important as the radiating element HI. Nice job. 73 de Rob VK2GOM / G0MOH

[RIDDICKorigional]

Nice job Dom i am hoping to get up a hustler vertical soon i am currently using a homebrew vertical best 73 David M3VZQ

[viewpoints3]

Excellent video! You renew my faith in the future! You have what it takes...brains! Keep up the good work...learning a lot and enjoying it! Thank You! Viewpoints3!

[G8ZRE]

Superb Video I have a Hustler 5BTV ground mounted very small garden 15ft by 30ft and the aerial is 10ft from house cannot use radials it is right next to the path. Really enjoyed the true spirit of Amateur radio soldering on the kitchen worktop.

[Proghartedo]

Verticals always work better with radials. Although the instruction manual from Hustler says to measure the radials (2 per band), you are wasting your time since the ground will detune those and the length is somewhat insignificant. Simply use 16 radials at .1 wavelengths on the lowest frequency used. I think that you will see an improvement over the measured radials. Good to see that you have installed the radials, however. Some people don't even do that. They simply use a ground rod.

[dnas2]

Thanks for the information. The soil at the QTH is very shallow and there's solid granite underneath, so an earth rod just wasn't possible at all.

I did use the antenna more-or-less successfully without any radials or ground rod for a couple years, though. The radials do seem to have improved it a bit.

73 de M0BLF.

[VictoreCelia]

cool...

[JTaylor801]

Great Vid. I'm curious as to how the radials helped the performance of the 6BTV. Also, how far from your house do you have the 6BTV vertical mounted?

73 de kd0bik (Jerry)

[dnas2]

Hi Jerry,

Thanks for the comment. The antenna is mounted probably about 30m/50ft from the house. As for the performance, the simple answer is that I don't yet know. It is at my parents' / my vacation QTH, and I'm now back at my University QTH. In the few days I did have to use it before I came back here, I didn't notice a huge improvement, but then again conditions have been so bad that I'm not sure. I'll try to remember to mention it in a future vlog when I've made some more QSOs on it. 73.

[JTaylor801]

Thanks for that info. I have the 6BTV and due to housing restrictions where I live, I have it placed less than 20-25 feet from my house. It's as good as I can do right now. I do have about a dozen radials that I plan to bury this weekend (weather permitting).