Larry:
I agree with Jerry: By all means, install ground rods and connect your
tower legs to them, per Polyphaser's recommendations. Also, check out Bill
N3RR's web page www.erols.com/n3rr for grounding design info. Just be
mindful that your tower is aluminum so make sure you use ground clamps made
of material that's compatible with the tower and (copper?) ground conductor.
Champion Radio Products has some stainless steel tower leg clamps that use
worm gears to tighten around the tower legs. You may want to consider
greasing the worm drive slightly to prevent corrosion, as you'd be loosening
and tightening your clamps, whereas most folks set 'em and forget 'em.
Also, Don't attach the clamps too close to ground level. This will put a
right-angle turn in your ground wire, increasing its inductance at that
point. If you connect up higher on the leg, your wire will have a gentle
curve to it as it enters the earth.
GL es 73 de
Gene Smar AD3F
-----Original Message-----
From: J. Kincade <w5kp@swbell.net>
To: Larry Stowell <lclarks@nc.rr.com>; towertalk@contesting.com
<towertalk@contesting.com>
To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Date: Sunday, July 22, 2001 9:45 AM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Tower grounding
>
>Considering how seldom one has to fold one of these things over, I think
I'd
>go ahead with normal grounding of the legs, and simply detach the ground
>clamps or wires at the tower legs when I had occasion to fold it over. Just
>be creative initially with a mechanical attachment to the legs that is easy
>to remove and replace. Three more screws or bolts to remove and replace
once
>in a while is no big deal, and is very little hassle in return for big time
>insurance. And from what I've read over the years, more ground rods
attached
>to the post AND the tower legs can't hurt, and will probably help, if you
>spread them out around the base roughly the distance of the length of the
>rods.. Consider yourself lucky to have soil you can get a ground rod into!
>Because of layers of rock close to the surface, my "ground rod field" has
to
>be about twice as big as normal, with twice as many (shorter) rods. I don't
>like it, but we do the best we can with what we have to work with.
>73, Jerry W5KP
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Larry Stowell <lclarks@nc.rr.com>
>To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
>Sent: Saturday, July 21, 2001 10:37 PM
>Subject: [TowerTalk] Tower grounding
>
>
>>
>> I'm just finishing the post mount for my Aluma 75ft foldover crank-up
>tower.
>> and have been reading the comments about grounding the tower. My question
>is
>> obviously I can't ground the legs and still fold it over, and the
mounting
>> post is buried 6ft(no concrete) would it be of any use to put ground rods
>in
>> a tie them to the post?
>>
>>
>>
>> List Sponsor: Are you thinking about installing a tower this summer? Call
>us
>> for information on our fabulous Trylon Titan self-supporting towers - up
>to
>> 96-feet for less than $2000! at 888-833-3104 <A
>HREF="http://www.ChampionRadio.com";>
>> www.ChampionRadio.com</A>
>>
>> -----
>> FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/towertalk
>> Submissions: towertalk@contesting.com
>> Administrative requests: towertalk-REQUEST@contesting.com
>> Problems: owner-towertalk@contesting.com
>>
>>
>
>
>List Sponsor: Are you thinking about installing a tower this summer? Call
us
>for information on our fabulous Trylon Titan self-supporting towers - up to
>96-feet for less than $2000! at 888-833-3104 <A
HREF="http://www.ChampionRadio.com";>
>www.ChampionRadio.com</A>
>
>-----
>FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/towertalk
>Submissions: towertalk@contesting.com
>Administrative requests: towertalk-REQUEST@contesting.com
>Problems: owner-towertalk@contesting.com
>
List Sponsor: Are you thinking about installing a tower this summer? Call us
for information on our fabulous Trylon Titan self-supporting towers - up to
96-feet for less than $2000! at 888-833-3104 <A
HREF="http://www.ChampionRadio.com";>
www.ChampionRadio.com</A>
-----
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/towertalk
Submissions: towertalk@contesting.com
Administrative requests: towertalk-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems: owner-towertalk@contesting.com
|