[TowerTalk] Re: I'll bite, how does it work

[K7LXC@aol.com]

In a message dated 05/14/2000 4:57:17 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
dick@libelle.com writes:

> We live in the High Sierras of Western Nevada.  Most of the areas here
>  are ancient alluvial plains consisting of layers of sand/gravel and
>  "hard pan."  At our QTH the hard pan layer is about three feet thick
>  and lies roughly eighteen inches below the surface.  Even pneumatic
>  rotary hammers are not capable of driving a standard steel ground rod
>  through it.
>  
>  I finally gave up on rods and the ground field emanating from my tower
>  consists of eight fifty-foot lengths of 2" copper strap laying in the
>  bottom of separate 18-inch deep trenches and backfilled.
>  
       For hard soils like the above, the ground rods can be laid 
horizontally. You only get half the useful hemisphere but it's a LOT easier 
than trying to drive them into the ground.

      Use of copper strap like Dick mentions is the other thing you can do in 
these instances since it gives you much more surface area and soil contact 
area than using copper wire. 

Cheers,    Steve    K7LXC
Tower Tech 

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