[RFI] Station ground - more

[Kenneth G. Gordon]

On 4 Oct 2016 at 13:18, Jim Brown wrote:

> > One last question: I assume that #10 bare wire is NOT large enough to bond all ground
> > rods/systems together? What size would you suggest?
> 
> A "bond," by definition, is "a mechanically robust, low impedance 
> connection that is capable of carrying any fault current that may be 
> occur." Worst case, that's lightning, so we'd like the conductor to be 
> large enough to carry the discharge without melting. Obviously, that 
> depends on how close the hit is, but larger is better. :)  As to 
> impedance -- remember that lightning is an RF event, NOT a DC event,

Yup. Obvious to those of us who think about it.

> so 
> impedance is dominated by inductance. This dictates that "shorter is 
> better."  My bonds between earth electrodes are #4 stranded copper. In 
> large buildings, AWG #00 or #0000 is often used.

OK. My rods are about 8 feet apart. I'll use #4 there. Then to connect THOSE rods to the 
main panel rods, is another 20 feet, so I'll use #00 there. And will use #4 to take the first set 
of rods to the shack, about 10 feet.

Thanks,

Ken W7EKB

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