Locating Lost or Broken Radials
I have lost several of my underground ground radials in the past. They seem to sink into the grass and are hard to find after a few years. Operating on 630 meters means there are long radials everywhere.
I wanted to repair them and I found that I could easily find them by injecting RF at 1 MHz, modulated with 400Hz AM, from my signal generator through coax to the main ground stake.
Then I take a small AM transistor radio with a built-in loop stick antenna and duck tape it to a yard stick or a selfie stick so that it glides along the ground right above the grass/ground.
It picks up the 1 MHz signal along the radial and fades out if the radial is broken.
So I only have to slip a knife under the sweet spot to find the radial.
Paul, w0rw

| K0CCM | 2020-10-16 | |
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| Locating Lost or Broken Radials | ||
| Has anyone tried using a metal detector? It would seem to be a good application for that device. | ||
| W9WLW | 2020-10-14 | |
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| Locating Lost or Broken Radials | ||
| Terrific idea - thanks for sharing it with us. 73 | ||
| VE3CUI | 2020-09-30 | |
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| Locating Lost or Broken Radials | ||
| Clever...! An ad hoc, MacGyver-like, "...metal detector"...! | ||
| KJ4DGE | 2020-09-30 | |
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| Locating Lost or Broken Radials | ||
| Great idea! | ||