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Re: [TowerTalk] More Sparky Questions

To: towertalk@contesting.com, jimsmith@shaw.ca, n2ic@arrl.net
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] More Sparky Questions
From: K7LXC@aol.com
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2005 08:36:23 EDT
List-post: <mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
In a message dated 8/12/2005 4:21:28 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
towertalk-request@contesting.com writes:

>  Steve,
I'm no expert on this stuff but I'm sure I have seen TT posts which say 
that silver soldering is FB for this application.  So, wrap the strap 
around the ring and silver solder it.  Takes a LOT of heat.

73 de Jim Smith   VE7FO

Steve London wrote:

>Thanks to everyone for their extremely helpful suggestions on dealing with 
my 
>hilltop rock QTH.
>
>It looks like the most reasonable things to do are:
>
>1) Install a number of copper strip radials from the tower base along the 
surface.
>
>2) Ground the bulkhead to the AC service ground.
>
>Now, here's the dumb questions ....
>
>Let's assume I want to create a copper ring around the tower, and attach the 
>copper strips to the copper ring.
>
>- Which of the Polyphaser (or other) products let me clamp a copper strip to 
a 
>Rohn 45 tower leg ?  I see a number of Polyphaser TK-series clamps that look 
>like hose clamps.  Okay, that goes around the tower leg, but now I need to 
>securely attach the copper strip to the clamp.  Another SS hose clamp on 
top, or 
>?  Is this even the right product to use ?
>
>- How should I attach the copper strips to the copper ring ?  Clearly, I 
want as 
>much surface area of the copper strap to be in contact with the copper ring 
as 
>possible. I presume that soldering is a no-no for this purpose ?

Hi, Steve --

    A new retirement QTH and a blank sheet of paper - cool! 

    The TK clamps are what you use to attach copper to the round galvanized 
tower leg. You can roll your own by buying some hoseclamps and a sheet of SS. 
You're just trying to keep the galv away from the copper - too far apart on the 
dissimilar metals chart. 

    Mostly people bend the copper around the leg and clamp it. I'm not sure 
of any neater ways of doing it. You can't Cadweld it - I'm pretty sure it'll 
blow a hole in the leg.

    Yes, you cannot solder your ground system. The only 2 NEC methods are 
either mechanical (nut-and-bolt) or exothermic (i.e. Cadweld). The first decent 
charge going thru your system will melt the soldered joints. 

    As far as attaching your copper strap to your ground wire, give Ron Block 
a call - http://www.wrblock.com/. He's Roger Block's brother - the guy that 
started Polyphaser - and he should have some good info. He's at Dayton every 
year too. Also Harger has grounding products - http://www.harger.com/. There 
might be others - a Google search might be useful. 

Cheers,
Steve     K7LXC
TOWER TECH  
_______________________________________________

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Stations", and lot's more.  Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions 
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