Topband: Tree conductivity

[Rudy Severns]

Some time ago I attempted to make direct measurements of the HF conductivity 
of trees, at least for the trunk and limbs.  I simply put a two rings, with 
nails to penetrate through the bark, around the trunk spaced a couple of 
feet apart.  Basically what I had was a resistor.  I then measured the 
impedance of this "resistor" using a network analyzer.

The results indicated quite a high conductivity which I simply couldn't 
believe at the time.  I wrote up a note on the experiment and put the note 
on the shelf thinking to look into it at some later date.  Of course nothing 
has happened since!  If anyone is interested I would be happy to share the 
note, which describes the experiment, and the Excel file with the 
measurement data.  Maybe you can see where I went wrong or perhaps I got it 
right.  If I'm right then trees really are bad news in the high E-fields 
associated with high voltage points.

Please contact me off the reflector.  n6lf at arrl.net .

73, Rudy N6LF