[TowerTalk] Grounding Wire/Strip

[DavidC]

> Here, I think the water table is at about four to six feet, so I should
> be OK with 8-foot ground rods.  In Indiana, where I had an 80-foot
> tower, I actually had a well-drilling company come out and sink a pipe
> to about 30 feet for a ground.  Here, I am planning to put in two
> 60-foot ground radials with five ground rods each, on two of the legs,
> and the attachment to the third leg will be the run to the ground system
> outside the ham shack (around 100 feet).
> Doc, N9AM

The water table here in west central Florida is 18-19 feet, or so I am told.
Is your understanding that I should drive a rod down to that depth to
which to ground the tower?

My tower will be about 100 feet from the shared ground for everything in
the house & shack.  If I run one of my lines as 1" 75 ohm CATV coax and
ground the heavy shell at the tower base and at the shared ground point
do I really need to run an additional ground-only wire to the house?

While I am digging trenches (sure a lot easier here than in NH!) I want to
try
to anticipate needs.  I have a thought of burying  2 or 3" PVC from the
shack
to the tower to carry the coax and rotor control lines, is that worth the
extra
cost and labor?

Is there any advantage to routing such runs closer or further from the house
when they are parallel for 50 feet or so?  I have the option of curving
close to
the foundation or 10-15 feet away as I dig the trench.  It doesn't effect
the
length much but I wondered about inductively coupling lightning into the
house
wiring.

I was advised to extend wires parallel to the foundation out from the shared
ground
to neutralize coupling that way but a concrete porch slab prevents me from
doing so.
I will instead add a couple more ground rods to improve the quality of the
ground in
the sandy soil and then Cadweld them together.

Thanks! & 73, DavidC  K1YP

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