TopBand: Bonding shunt fed wire to tower

[Roger Graves]

Ron,
I looked into this when I was re-doing my shunt fed tower 
connections, ground and feed. 
I got responses from real professional antenna engineers and 
metalurgists. There is a lot involved here. The bottom line is, make 
sure the connection is weatherproofed, otherwise electrolytic action 
will soon degrade the connection and damage the zinc galvanizing.
If you want more info, let me know.
BTW, I used lugs obtained from an electricians supply company, 
made for breaker panels I think. Bright copper (brass?) and what 
looks like silver plated. I chose to separate the copper from the 
tower with stainless washers. The separation with SS is recommended 
by some, said to be unnecessary by others. In any case. SS bolts and 
nuts are advised. I also used antioxidation compound between 
all surfaces, again, said to be helpful by some, unnecessary by 
others. I painted the whole connection area with 'liquid tape', 
identical product it appears to the 'liquid neoprene' sold in diving 
shops for repairing scuba diving wet suits.
73, Rod VE7FPT

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