[TowerTalk] New Tower Grounding Advice

[Phil - KB9CRY]

Bill Austin wrote:

> I'm putting up a new 60ft self-supporting Trylon.  

Nice tower, I've got a 72 ft. Trylon and love it.

> I'm wondering how much and what type of grounding needs to be done.  
> Any advice and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. 

Thoroughly read the technical articles on the Polyphaser and ICE 
websites.  They are THE experts.  Don't scrimp; do it right!

>
>
> I bought three grounding kits with the tower, one for each leg.  I 
> plan to tie the three rods 

Only three?  Polyphaser recommends about 85 ft of ground radial length 
per leg.  Personally, I have four eight foot rods, spaced 16 ft apart, 
on each of my legs.  No need to tie the three rods together, your tower 
will do the job of distributing the energy amongst the ground radials.

> together using some #4 solid copper.  

Use Cadweld or equivalent.  Clamps will need retightening at least twice 
per year.

> I plan to tie the electrical grounds for each of the three buildings 
> near the tower into this loop.  Each building has it's own breaker box 
> and ground rod, and all three connect back to the same distribution 
> panel.  

Good and this is also tied to your SPG, single point ground rod, to 
which all your lightning protectors and shack ground is also connected.

> I also have a lightning rod to go on top the tower, 

Useless.  Your mast and tower will do the job and it you do the proper 
job of grounding everything, then lightning probably won't hit the tower 
since your constantly bleeding away the static buildup to which the sky 
energy wants to bond.

> and plan to run a separate copper wire down the tower to the grounding 
> loop at the bottom. 

Useless again, your tower is metallic and will conduct the energy.  
Don't forget to bond the coax shields to the tower, at least at the 
base, to shunt energy off of the shields to the tower grounding prior to 
going to the shack.

>
>
> I've been reading the archives for some time now.  I was looking at 
> Roger Halstead's site (linked in a recent post) and all the work he 
> did with his towers.  I was just wondering what else I should plan on 
> doing.  We have the rebar in, and I hope to be pouring concrete next 
> Friday.
>
> Thanks & 73,
> Bill - KD7ZAH
>
>
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>
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>
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