[TowerTalk] Soil Conductivity/Cell sites from N0AH

[David Robbins]

the only real way is to buy, rent, or borrow a meter and measure it.  there are
so many variables even within a specific soil type i doubt you will find any
general numbers besides the generic tables that come with most meters... and
they only show wide ranges for 'loam', 'sand', 'clay', etc.  check with a local
electrical contractor or even your electrical utility, anyone that does
industrial or electrical distribution work probably has the equipment and know
how to do it.  the electrical utility may also have a map of the area with
measured conductivities.  its not a real tricky process, stick 4 electrodes in
the ground a specific distance apart, push a button, and read a number.  do it
in several places and take an average for better results.  the same meter can
also measure the resistance of an installed ground system if you want to find
out how good your tower or house ground is.  as far as tower grounding for a
cell site, they will probably be more concerned with terrain and coverage area
than ground characteristics for selecting a site.  you can almost always build a
decent ground, but you can't always get a site that covers a specific area.

Dinsterdog@aol.com wrote:
> 
> With all this talk lately about cell site leases, and to all those of you
> living on farms/ranches etc.......
> 
> I recently asked our local county's Conservation District to give us idea of
> our soils for farming/ranching needs etc....
> 
> They came back with a 40 page report on our soils, what crops to plant, what
> livestock numbers we could expect to support etc....
> 
> Of interest, was a how detailed their analysis of our soils were.  Now that I
> have them classified, can anyone with experience in selecting commercial
> antenna sites give me an idae of what kind of soil conductivity I can expect,
> from poor to excellent, based upon the following description, and what my
> chances might be to lease portions of our ranch for cell site towers?:
> 
> We have three types of soils on the list:
> 
> Soil type one:  Treon-Aberone-Treon, thin solum, fine sandys, 6 to 15 percent
> slopes fine sandy loam
> 
> Soil Type two:  Altvan Loam, 0-3 percent slopes
> 
> Soil Type three: Vetal Sandy Loam, 1 to 3 percent slope
> 
> I don't want to take up too much more space...but if you know about this
> subject, please e-mail me your opinion or forward any questions you might
> have if you need further information.  I'm hoping there might be a chart out
> there to cross reference these soil types with conductivity, without having
> to perform actual conductivity tests.
> 
> 73 Paul  N0AH
> Carpenter, Wyoming
> 
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-- 
David Robbins K1TTT (ex KY1H)
k1ttt@berkshire.net   or   robbins@berkshire.net
http://www.berkshire.net/~robbins/k1ttt.html

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