[TowerTalk] Ground Rods

[km1h@juno.com]

On Fri, 09 Apr 1999 21:44:09 -0700 Tom Osborne <w7why@harborside.com>
writes:
>
>
>km1h@juno.com wrote:
>> 
>> On Fri, 9 Apr 1999 07:43:11 EDT Chanel1096@aol.com writes:
>> >
>> >Just a note on Ground Rods, keep in mind that one change 
>>>implemented >into TIA/EIA-222-F was that all ground rods be 
>>>galvanized steel.
>
>> Reasoning??
>> Too fast a deteriation with copper clad maybe?
>> 
>> 73  Carl  KM1H
>
>Some time back, I bought some ground rods from Radio Shack.  They
>were copper coated steel.  Are they useless? 

My experience with them is they rust out faster than the rocker panels on
a 49 Ford.
I buy 5/8"  x 8' rods from an industrial supply company. The same one
that sells to the local power company.  About $ 9 each.


I just can't seem
>to get the ground to work right here.  They are 3 feet long and I
>put 2 of them in the ground about 8 feet apart, and have them
>tied together with a heavy wire, soldered at each end.  I tie the
>radio and amp the the center of the wire.  It just don't seem to
>work right. 

I take it you mean an AC ground for the equipment?


Unless you are almost in salt water that is way too short. In some parts
of the country they use threaded rods and series them up to 50' or so to
get a good AC ground. I am on a rock pile on this granite hill and barely
can get a AC panel ground with 4 rods driven in at angles. I believe the
NEC code is a minimum of one 8' rod but I'll let the pros clarify that.


I dont even bother with a dedicated RF or tower grounds.  All the towers
float above ground and I let Mother Nature find the lowest resistance to
ground...all the local pine trees and the neighbors well casings.

Caution..what works for me may not be healthy for you.

73 Carl  KM1H




73
>Tom W7WHY

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