subsoiler for running wire

[ning]

I've had a section of "radio fence" for my cats that cuts across an open part of the yard (the rest of the wire is run at the base of fences; we didn't want them going *everywhere*) and for years the wire has just been laid over the ground - watch your step, and move the wire to the side when mowing.

I finally got around to putting it in the ground thanks to some posts by kenny and others - pipe on the back of a subsoiler.

I used a bit of ¾" gray pvc conduit; bent the end of it 90° with a heat gun (had some 4/0 cable in the conduit to keep it from collapsing completely during the bends). I used some simple steel utility wire to attach it as I didn't want anything permanent.

I removed the lifting shoe from the subsoiler as my goal was just the cut and not a lifting action.

Worked great! I was solo so I started with a pre-cut slot in the ground next to the fence at one end, backed the tractor into position, started the wire through the pipe and tied it to the fence, and lowered the subsoiler. After a couple feet, I stopped the tractor and adjusted the draft as I wanted this wire to be just barely subsurface as I'm concerned with signal attenuation from the ground. Then, drove tractor to the other side slowly, with one hand guiding the wire into the pipe from above.

Driving back over the cut zipped it closed nicely.

Strongly recommend this method!

 

[JCoastie]

nice! I'm sure at one point I'll be doing this. Hadn't thought about removing the lifting shoe, that's a great tip.

 

[jenkinsph]

Curious if this works better or worse than using an insulated wire? I also was thinking that a bare wire may corrode quickly and the bare wire would be grounded out.

 

[ning]

Curious if this works better or worse than using an insulated wire? I also was thinking that a bare wire may corrode quickly and the bare wire would be grounded out.

The wire is jacketed / insulated.
Definitely can't use bare wire - i did find a few bare patches on the old wire that i had to replace because i couldn't bury the exposed copper; quite surprised it still functioned that way!

(The wire in the picture was only what's holding the guide pipe/conduit onto the subsoiler - the radio fence wire is ca #18awg covered in a thick layer of plastic - I've never seen it at a store other than for this purpose)

 

[jenkinsph]

That makes sense.^^^^