Great start to a great idea. I’m sure you got pretty exhausted after all the wires were buried. I need to do something similar. But I’m 75 and I would probably die before I could get them all in. But you did a great job of showing a way to do the task. Thanks
Thanks for the video and the great idea for the radial install tool. I'll be installing a Hustler 4BTV in the next couple of weeks and I'm planning on putting in 40 radials. I don't trust the advice from some sources that says to just staple them down to the ground, let the grass grow over them, and then the mower won't hit them, so I'm going to bury them an inch or two. I just got back from the hardware store, where I picked up a 6-foot piece of aluminum channel the same size as yours, but made of thicker metal. I pinched a few inches on the end closed using the bench vise and ground the corners smooth so it will go through the ground easier. I didn't have a cheap knife that I don't care about lying around, so I'm using an old handsaw made for cutting drywall as the cutting tool. It looks pretty much like a knife, with a round wooden handle and very coarse teeth on the blade. I've got the drywall saw taped on to the aluminum and ready to go. It should make the radial installation go much easier.
Oh, "My aching Back".... Sorry, after 4 Back Surgeries not going to do this, but it's great info anyway. I hope you put some decorative stone on top of where your radials come up to the antenna, so your lawn mowing people don't get into them. 73's. KC9RWE
The zero five starting to look like a real good option for me here something In that 20 for or so range, other ones I’ve looked at are hygain av14 and hustler 4btv lost the last two trees on my property to disease and lightning strikes so looking at verticals. Right now sporting a dx commander which has been decent
I have a DX Commander Classic and I had a hard time tuning that thing. I gave up and got the Zero FIve 27' HOA. You will still need to use a tuner to get the SWRs down to 1.5. I'm using the Palstar AT2K which bring down the SWR to 1:1.
@@DarrenN4VFR it’s been a decent antenna too a lot of fiddling (cut and try) to get it going got it for parks on the air before I picked up a chameleon mpas 2.0 which is much easier to deploy in the field, so deployed the dx commander here at the qth until I can find something more permanent, that I like, figure if I’m going to go through the hassle of pouring a base and driving a ground rod and running radials for a permanent antenna it should be something I like, the antenna you featured checks a lot of boxes for me and includes a lot of stuff that’s extras with the other antenna like the tilt over base, the five zero site does claim it’s a no radial antenna on the HOA 27’ but I’m skeptical
@@lcdmonitor1981 Today I bought a 10' 1/2" copper pipe from Home Depot. I will make a video on how I plan on driving a copper pipe in the ground. I want to put in another grounding rod and will use a copper pipe instead. I just made a QSO with a fellow in Hollywood FL and another fellow in New Jersey. So, my Zero Five antenna can make local contacts and also DX stations. I think it's the best antenna. Just remember that the antenna transformer will arrive 10 days later from USPS. Good luck!
@@DarrenN4VFR I have a DX Commander Classic. Best antenna purchase ever. SWR was spot on from the very 1st install. My max SWR is 1.26 on all bands. No need for an antenna tuner. Take your time and build this right. 73's.
@@lcdmonitor1981 I have an MPAS and I wish I had discovered the DX Commander before buying it. While it is a good antenna, In my experience, does not compare. I even added a CAP-HAT and even doubled the MIL-EXT (Not using the WHIP at the advice of Chamelon. * Just trying to save ham's money. * ) 73's
Seriously, why go to all of that trouble when you can pin the radials down with landscaping staples (or better, 2 inch biodegradable lawn stakes) and net nature do the work within a week or two?
@@DarrenN4VFR I posted above a few weeks ago that I was going to use a small wooden-handled handsaw made for cutting drywall, attached to a similar piece of aluminum channel stock. I haven't buried my radials yet, due to annoying and ongoing cold, wet weather here in Wisconsin (winter just does not want to end this year). I'm gonna do the radials next weekend. But in a quick test of how the drywall saw would work for this purpose, I found that the saw teeth grabbed and held onto globs of grass and dirt, which interfered with the process and tore up the surface of the lawn more than I wanted. So I scrapped the saw idea, removed it from the aluminum piece, and found an old, unused kitchen knife in a box in the basement. It's about the size of the one in the video. The smooth cutting edge on the knife works much better than the teeth on the saw. It doesn't catch the grass and does less damage to the lawn, making a nearly invisible, tiny trench for the radial wire. Using a serrated knife blade may be the "in-between" and the best of both worlds. A little more aggressive cutting, but not so much that it would grab and hold the grass and dirt. I'm excited to finally get my radials buried, after making the necessary purchases and planning my antenna project since last fall. I dug the 3 1/2-foot deep post hole and mounted the steel base post in concrete last weekend, and buried the 45 feet of coax from the shack to the post yesterday. I have 40 radials, 20 at 20 feet long, and 20 at 32 feet, for a total of 1040 feet of radials to bury. It will be a bit of a workout, but I think "Capt Darren's Wonder Tool" will work great. Burying the radials will be the last of the "hard work" for the project. Thanks again for the great idea for a tool to make the job easier.
@@Brian424 Yeah, the drywall blades are too aggressive and catches on the grass roots. Check out this new video where I used a Machete to lay my ground radials. th-cam.com/video/S9_fNQEiB2g/w-d-xo.html
Great start to a great idea. I’m sure you got pretty exhausted after all the wires were buried. I need to do something similar. But I’m 75 and I would probably die before I could get them all in. But you did a great job of showing a way to do the task. Thanks
Just use an edger.
I used an edger worked good
I used to work in a prison. You just made a modified shank! LOL / '73 / Steve
Hahahaha, Cool! I didn't know that.
@K4SRF An extended one, for stabbing the guy across the cellblock...
@@Jah_Rastafari_ORIG If you string some wire through it you can work some 20 meters before the guards show up to throw you in the hole! :)
@@Jah_Rastafari_ORIG so a DX shanking
Great job ....Brother👍Doing yourself awesome 👌
Thanks for the video and the great idea for the radial install tool. I'll be installing a Hustler 4BTV in the next couple of weeks and I'm planning on putting in 40 radials. I don't trust the advice from some sources that says to just staple them down to the ground, let the grass grow over them, and then the mower won't hit them, so I'm going to bury them an inch or two.
I just got back from the hardware store, where I picked up a 6-foot piece of aluminum channel the same size as yours, but made of thicker metal. I pinched a few inches on the end closed using the bench vise and ground the corners smooth so it will go through the ground easier. I didn't have a cheap knife that I don't care about lying around, so I'm using an old handsaw made for cutting drywall as the cutting tool. It looks pretty much like a knife, with a round wooden handle and very coarse teeth on the blade. I've got the drywall saw taped on to the aluminum and ready to go. It should make the radial installation go much easier.
Oh, "My aching Back".... Sorry, after 4 Back Surgeries not going to do this, but it's great info anyway. I hope you put some decorative stone on top of where your radials come up to the antenna, so your lawn mowing people don't get into them. 73's.
KC9RWE
Thanks for the tip, but I lived in FL for over 8 years and one of the things I learned, FL never has rain. It's called "liquid sunshine".
Hahahaha... You got that right!
@@DarrenN4VFR Also, I advise not buying the duct tape and knife in the same store.
@@smokeymccray6868 LoL.... No crime involved here.
I use a steel bladed weed wacker. It could not be easier. Put 5 radials in the other day. EasyPeasy.
The zero five starting to look like a real good option for me here something In that 20 for or so range, other ones I’ve looked at are hygain av14 and hustler 4btv lost the last two trees on my property to disease and lightning strikes so looking at verticals. Right now sporting a dx commander which has been decent
I have a DX Commander Classic and I had a hard time tuning that thing. I gave up and got the Zero FIve 27' HOA. You will still need to use a tuner to get the SWRs down to 1.5. I'm using the Palstar AT2K which bring down the SWR to 1:1.
@@DarrenN4VFR it’s been a decent antenna too a lot of fiddling (cut and try) to get it going got it for parks on the air before I picked up a chameleon mpas 2.0 which is much easier to deploy in the field, so deployed the dx commander here at the qth until I can find something more permanent, that I like, figure if I’m going to go through the hassle of pouring a base and driving a ground rod and running radials for a permanent antenna it should be something I like, the antenna you featured checks a lot of boxes for me and includes a lot of stuff that’s extras with the other antenna like the tilt over base, the five zero site does claim it’s a no radial antenna on the HOA 27’ but I’m skeptical
@@lcdmonitor1981 Today I bought a 10' 1/2" copper pipe from Home Depot. I will make a video on how I plan on driving a copper pipe in the ground. I want to put in another grounding rod and will use a copper pipe instead. I just made a QSO with a fellow in Hollywood FL and another fellow in New Jersey. So, my Zero Five antenna can make local contacts and also DX stations. I think it's the best antenna. Just remember that the antenna transformer will arrive 10 days later from USPS. Good luck!
@@DarrenN4VFR I have a DX Commander Classic. Best antenna purchase ever. SWR was spot on from the very 1st install. My max SWR is 1.26 on all bands. No need for an antenna tuner. Take your time and build this right. 73's.
@@lcdmonitor1981 I have an MPAS and I wish I had discovered the DX Commander before buying it. While it is a good antenna, In my experience, does not compare. I even added a CAP-HAT and even doubled the MIL-EXT (Not using the WHIP at the advice of Chamelon. * Just trying to save ham's money. * ) 73's
Maybe something with a wheel on it, that you can also push down and forward with one foot, it may work very well.
Great in Florida, but won't work in the rock here in Arizona desert. Lol
Sorry to hear that, lol
Seriously, why go to all of that trouble when you can pin the radials down with landscaping staples (or better, 2 inch biodegradable lawn stakes) and net nature do the work within a week or two?
There are lawn staples to pin down your wires
Yes I know but didn't want the risk of the lawn service to cut my ground wires therefore, I decided to buried them.
Take a look at this one as I posted before, but here a link where someone was doing a similar idea: th-cam.com/video/W5VVvs3HkNw/w-d-xo.html
That was sweet! And fast!
I might try that, but with a serrated knife for extra hacking power...
I have another video I did last week using a machete knife.
@@DarrenN4VFR I posted above a few weeks ago that I was going to use a small wooden-handled handsaw made for cutting drywall, attached to a similar piece of aluminum channel stock. I haven't buried my radials yet, due to annoying and ongoing cold, wet weather here in Wisconsin (winter just does not want to end this year). I'm gonna do the radials next weekend. But in a quick test of how the drywall saw would work for this purpose, I found that the saw teeth grabbed and held onto globs of grass and dirt, which interfered with the process and tore up the surface of the lawn more than I wanted.
So I scrapped the saw idea, removed it from the aluminum piece, and found an old, unused kitchen knife in a box in the basement. It's about the size of the one in the video. The smooth cutting edge on the knife works much better than the teeth on the saw. It doesn't catch the grass and does less damage to the lawn, making a nearly invisible, tiny trench for the radial wire.
Using a serrated knife blade may be the "in-between" and the best of both worlds. A little more aggressive cutting, but not so much that it would grab and hold the grass and dirt.
I'm excited to finally get my radials buried, after making the necessary purchases and planning my antenna project since last fall. I dug the 3 1/2-foot deep post hole and mounted the steel base post in concrete last weekend, and buried the 45 feet of coax from the shack to the post yesterday. I have 40 radials, 20 at 20 feet long, and 20 at 32 feet, for a total of 1040 feet of radials to bury. It will be a bit of a workout, but I think "Capt Darren's Wonder Tool" will work great. Burying the radials will be the last of the "hard work" for the project. Thanks again for the great idea for a tool to make the job easier.
@@Brian424 Yeah, the drywall blades are too aggressive and catches on the grass roots. Check out this new video where I used a Machete to lay my ground radials. th-cam.com/video/S9_fNQEiB2g/w-d-xo.html
Ingenius - I got 28 5M wires to get down
Or you could used an edger machine to dig a trench.
@@DarrenN4VFR weedeater with fresh edging blade could work as well -- In JAX as well, Oakleaf Area
Tell the lawn guy not to cut it so short Grass will consume the wires in bout a yr.
I've decided to bury the ground radials.
counterpoise, not ground radials..