Re: [TowerTalk] Solid Tower Ground Wires

[K9MA <k9ma@sdellington.us>]

Ah, the poor man's 4-wire ohmmeter. That would be about 0.4 V at 20 A. 
If it's copper.
Or, you could weigh a length of it an do some arithmetic.  I suppose 
that  might not rule out a high resistivity copper alloy, if there is 
such a thing.
73,
Scott K9MA

On 5/18/2019 07:42, Gedas wrote:
> Pass 10-20 DC amps through it and measure the voltage drop. At 50' 
> long this will give you a good idea of it's resistivity. Of course if 
> you have a trusted low resistance ohm meter (4-wire) you can use that 
> also.
> Gedas, W8BYA
>
> Gallery at http://w8bya.com
> Light travels faster than sound....
> This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
>
> On 5/18/2019 7:55 AM, Mike & Becca Krzystyniak wrote:
> > Greetings,
> >
> >     This wire was a barn find.  It ws coiled up in the rafters for 
> > storage
> > many years ago by an in-law.
> >     My guess is that it was up there for 40+ years.
> >
> >     I just checked and the wire I have is not magnetic. I even 
> > checked using
> > one of those super magnets.
> >     The wire core looks reddish brown, and is distinct from the 
> > shiney copper
> > shell or margins.
> >
> >     For grins I ran to Home Depot and the solid #4/#6 wire they sell 
> > there
> > looks the same, similar structure including the colored core.
> >     Of course the sales guy knows nothing (and I really wouldn't 
> > expect him
> > too).
> >
> >     I guess I got some specification digging to do.  I have about a 
> > 50' coil.
> >     Maybe the best thing to do is just get new copper stranded wire 
> > so I know
> > what I have and put this stuff back in the barn.
> >         Thanks again to all for the comments, pictures, links, and 
> > diagnostic
> > suggestions.
> >
> > 73  Mike K9MK
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: TowerTalk [mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of
> > jimlux
> > Sent: Friday, May 17, 2019 1:39 PM
> > To: towertalk@contesting.com
> > Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Solid Tower Ground Wires
> >
> > On 5/17/19 8:39 AM, Mike & Becca Krzystyniak wrote:
> > > Greetings,
> > >
> > >     As I install my new tower, I was dropping some ground rods next 
> > > to the
> > > base and acquired some #6 solid copper wire to make the connections 
> > > (or so
> > I
> > > thought).
> > >
> > >     When I went to cut the wire I found out that it had a hard core, 
> > > most
> > > likely steel.
> > Sounds like copper clad steel (aka Copperweld)..
> >
> > How much did you pay for the wire (per pound) compared to the price of
> > copper?  (about $2/lb today) That will give you a hint, 100ft is about 8
> > pounds, so you'd expect it to be at least $16.  Home Depot is selling 50
> > ft of AWG 6 for $37 (which is pretty expensive) or 500 ft for $237 
> > ($6/lb)
> >
> > >     I'm not sure this is plated as the outer copper ring is a 
> > > substantial
> > > portion of the cross section.
> > 40% copperclad steel would have a moderately layer of copper AWG 6 is
> > 0.162" in diameter and 1 ohm/1000 ft.
> > AWG 10 solid wire is 1 ohm/1000 ft and is 0.1" in diameter
> >
> > So the cross sectional area of the copper for 40% CCS should be about
> > the same as for AWG 10 - it works out to  cladding thickness of about 17
> > mils (out of 162 mil diameter) - so that's pretty thin..
> > Is that what it looks like?
> >
> >
> >
> > >     As I'm not familiar with the applicatio of this type of wire I 
> > > wonder
> > if
> > > it is acceptable for the grounding connection between the tower and the
> > > ground rod?
> > >
> > >     Thoughts or comments please.
> > >
> > > Thank you.
> > >
> > > Mike K9MK
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > TowerTalk mailing list
> > > TowerTalk@contesting.com
> > > http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
> > _______________________________________________
--
Scott  K9MA

k9ma@sdellington.us

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