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

[Bob Wanderer]

Of course the soil will eventually corrode and destroy the ground
rod/strap/wire etc.  It is a matter of how long for this to occur.  If you
use the wrong material, the time will be short.  Even if you use the correct
material but your soil is heavily acidic or alkaline, the time will be
short.  There is a supplier in England who (if memory serves) actually
guarantees their products will last at least a decade and perhaps even two.
Either the soil there is predominantly neutral or just one point either side
or they have discovered something unknown on this side of the pond.

Anyway, as a general rule, the eastern states generally have acidic soil and
should use aluminum/tinned/galvanized and the western and central states are
alkaline and should use copper.  The best course of action is to test your
soil at the depth your ground system will be at for its pH.  The pH kit used
for pools and spas is generally good enough for this purpose.

73
Bob AA0CY

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-towertalk@contesting.com
[mailto:owner-towertalk@contesting.com]On Behalf Of Brian Smithson
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2000 10:27 AM
To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: RE: [TowerTalk] Re: I'll bite, how does it work



I'm not much of a chemist, but I wonder what (if any) corrosive
impact that soil would have on the straps. Would they degrade?

-Brian n8wrl

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-towertalk@contesting.com
> [mailto:owner-towertalk@contesting.com]On Behalf Of K7LXC@aol.com
> Sent: Monday, May 15, 2000 9:57 AM
> To: dick@libelle.com; towertalk@contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Re: I'll bite, how does it work
>
>
>
> 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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