Hi all,
I'm hoping to get some wire and ground rods down within the next
couple of weeks but I'm not sure what type of wire specifically I
should be using. I'm trying to find a way to illustrate a plan of my
QTH, but essentially I'm going to encircle 3 sides of the house (4th
side is a long driveway), and a small circle around the base of my
70' crank up tower with each of the 3 legs connected to a ground rod
and in a circle, which in turn will be connected to the larger length
of wire around the house.
To go around the house and tie into the service ground, it looks like
I need about 100-150' of wire (I haven't measured exactly yet, but
it's close to that).
Couple of questions:
1) Should I also run additional "radials" emanating from this
arrangement, out into the back yard, or does that make a significant
difference?
2) What gauge and type of wire should be used for this project? In
what I've read, I've seen many different opinions. 6 solid, 4 solid,
10 stranded, etc? And I'm guessing this will obviously need to be
bare copper, not insulated! My electrician is clueless about this
kind of grounding, of course -- he thinks I'm crazy, believing one or
two ground rods bound to AC ground are all I need!
3) Will I likely be OK about 3 to 4" below the ground? I don't have a
way to get 'em much deeper than that unless I hire a contractor,
something that's not really in the budget at this point if not 100% necessary.
4) Where can I buy the proper stainless steel hardware to take a
copper strap from a tower leg (and for that matter, a good place for
copper strapping nowadays!), then bind it to a 5/8" ground rod?
5) I'd really like to Cadweld this system together, but frankly I
know nothing about this process, and the more I read the more
confused I become, and the more it seems the only way I can do this
is by investing some very heavy-duty dollars (special molds, ignitors, etc).
I'm really in WAY over my head, I'm not really mechanically-inclined
and would appreciate any help I can get here by those who understand
such things. I'm afraid that translating theory into practice is not
something I'm comfortable with, alas!
Thanks in advance.
Cheers,
Peter,
W2IRT
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