[TowerTalk] Conclusion: Ground Rods into Concrete

[Mike Foerster]

I want to thank everyone for their input (and there was lots).

I actually changed my mind, based on the latest email from K0iL.

I spent some time reading the articles about corrosion on the
http://www.anchorguard.com
website and decided that due to the electrical action, that perhaps it isn't
worth it.  An extra
ground rod at the side of the base would basically do the same thing, and I
would have
access to the rod and cable at any time, connected to the base of the tower.


>From the previous suggestions I was going to go ahead and place at least one
ground rod off the
bottom of the base stubs in the concrete because even though there may be
some corrosion, it
would seem to be a long time before much corrosion would take place.  But
decided against it
because it's just as easy to plant the extra rod near the base.

There were 3 basic points
brought up.

1. Concrete could explode if the tower were hit by lightning.  Most agree
this is a myth.

2. Any re-bar extending out of the concrete would rust and carry inside the
concrete and
affect the strength.  My initial thoughts are that this would take many
years to affect the structure
of the concrete. After reading the articles in the above, my feeling is that
it still may not affect the
concrete mass for many years past the service life of the antenna.

3. There seems to be a valid point in sing the rebar and that the concrete
as a conductive ground,
(Ulfer ground) along with the existing ground system.  But not really
completely understanding the system,
I've opted to pass.  (I didn't find a lot on the internet with my
searches...)






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