[TowerTalk] Station Ground

[Jim Brown]

On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 14:37:52 -0800 (PST), N6KJ wrote:

>Why do you need "beefy" connections from bus-bar
>to ground when you use much smaller wire
>connecting the equipment to the bus-bar?

It's all part of fooling ourselves about the basic physics. The 
impedance of a conductor at RF is FAR more dependent on its 
INDUCTANCE than upon its resistance.  So the only value of that 
"beefy" wire is that it might take a microsecond longer to melt in 
the case of a direct lightning hit. The smart money is on wide 
copper strap, not braid, for lower inductance and longer life. 

There's a discussion of some of this in a power and grounding white 
paper on my business's website. 

http://audiosystemsgroup.com/SurgeXPowerGround.pdf  

Jim Brown  K9YC