Rent a hammer drill with a 1/2" or 3/4" bit and an extension. Takes about 15 minutes a hole as long as you have AC out there. My 3/4" bit is 12" long and Ive used it several times to bust up big boulders at or near the surface in the yard.
Start at a point where there is space between 2 rocks to minimize the effort. This is a job where you sit on the ground to work and then lay down when tired and keep drilling! Carl KM1H ----- Original Message ----- From: "Herb Schoenbohm" <[email protected]> To: "N2TK, Tony" <[email protected]> Cc: "'topband'" <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, August 10, 2012 3:32 PM Subject: Re: Topband: Radials over a stone wall > Tony, no need to fret about drilling. I would say than going under is > better than going over. The crews who do direct burial for cable TV and > fiber have special directional drill attachments that you should try to > borrow. the will go straight down along the wall until they get to the > dirt under the wall, find their way under the wall and come up on the > other side. You just a need a few of these connector and for them it is > something they do all the time under highways, concrete drainage and > sidewalks, as a matter of their work. > > If you want to DIY you could also excavate as much as possible on both > sides, take some 8 foot ground rods and drive them at an angle drive > with a sledge on each side and see if you can "establish contact". Fill > both sides of the pilot holes with rock salt, the water them for several > days. Eventually you should have a fairly low resistance connection > from one rod to the other, even if they do not touch. Connect you > radials to both ground rods. Only problem with the rock salt is it will > eventually each away at the copper covered steel rod. But you should be > good for a year or two. > > Before I get royally flamed here and subjected to humiliation by not > having this advice peer reviewed, let me suggest that this method has > never been tested by me and probably not by anyone else. > > > Herb Schoenbohm, KV4FZ > > > > > > > On 8/10/2012 2:21 PM, N2TK, Tony wrote: >> Thanks Bill and Herb about drilling a hole through the wall. That could >> be >> tough. It is a stone wall with no mortar. It is about 20-28" thick. It is >> well constructed with large field stones. It would be rough to drill >> through >> all of that. I had thought about taking portion of the wall apart but >> figured I would never get it back to looking as good as it does now. The >> stones go fairly deep so not much chance of going under the wall. >> >> 73, >> N2TK, Tony >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Bill Wichers [mailto:[email protected]] >> Sent: Friday, August 10, 2012 12:26 PM >> To: N2TK, Tony; topband >> Subject: RE: Topband: Radials over a stone wall >> >> I would expect an "up and over" to clear the wall would result in a >> choke-like effect on the radial and would, at best, reduce the radial's >> effectiveness. >> >> It should be easy to just drill some small (maybe 1/4"?) holes through >> the >> wall in a few places to pass the radials through. With a decent hammer >> drill >> and a carbide bit a small hole like that is pretty quick and easy to >> complete -- even in concrete or stone. Then just use a piece of >> coathanger >> wire as a wire fishing tool to run the radials through the hole. >> >> I use a wire pulling tool called a "creep-zit" to pull radials under >> fallen >> trees and logs in the woods. It works great. I basically just take one of >> the 6 foot long fiberglass rods (each of which is a little over 1/8" >> diameter), tape the radial to one end, and then I can push it under >> fallen >> debris easily. With a little practice you can even get around hidden >> obstructions in the ground this way. >> >> -Bill >> >> >>> I shunt feed my tower for topband. I use variable vacuum caps and a >> vacuum >>> relay at the base to switch between the low end and the high end of >> the >>> band. It seems to work okay. I have 100' buried radials spaced 10' at >> the >>> ends from o degrees going clockwise through about 220 degrees. I have >> a 4' >>> high stone wall that runs about 20/200 degrees that is about 35' at >> its >>> closest point to the tower. So the radials are progressively shorter >> on >>> the >>> West side of the tower. >>> >>> >>> >>> I am making an assumption that going up over the wall will distort any >>> benefits of extending the radials on the West side? Is that a true >>> assumption. >>> >>> I can't really have the radials go from the tower base up at an angle >> to >>> clear the stone wall and continue on. If I am to extend them the >> radials >>> would have to go on the ground to the wall then up and over and back >> down >>> to >>> the ground. >>> >>> >>> >>> 73, >>> >>> N2TK, Tony >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK >> _______________________________________________ >> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK > > _______________________________________________ > UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK > > > ----- > No virus found in this message. > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > Version: 10.0.1424 / Virus Database: 2437/5191 - Release Date: 08/10/12 > _______________________________________________ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
