[Towertalk] Copper Ground Rods

[Bill Baker]

With all the hoopla about grounding,  I'm suprised that no one has yet =
asked about the use of Copper pipe.
I have always heard that you can fit a garden hose onto the end of a =
8-10ft piece of copper pipe, turn on the H2O and
watch it bury itself very quickly.  I have no question that this works =
but what about the copper pipe as a ground source
versus a copper clad metal rod???

I lost a lot of equipment to a lightning hit last year. I had a tower =
next to the house (with 2 ground rods) supporting a 3 ele 10M Cushcraft, =
a
10 Ele 2M beam and a J-Pole,  a GAP Titan out in the yard, the mast sunk =
3 ft into a piece of PVC in the ground,  and an 80 M dipole near both of =
them. The coax to the dipole and the GAP were coiled close to the =
ground. The GAP coax running through PVC to the corner of the house. As =
near as I can tell the hit was on the GAP as there was a charred area =
just above the lower vertical tubes where a main mast joint is. 2 of 4 =
screws were blown out. I lost the HF rig, two
2M rigs, 2 power supplies, a computer, rotor control, and TNC.  It must =
have come in through the main supply to the house as all of my
coax, and antennas were OK and are still in use. If I had just unplugged =
the AC from the wall I wouldn't have lost anything I guess.=20

I appreciate all your stories and suggestions but I don't think you can =
figure or predict what a strike will do.

N5UMH
Bill


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