[TowerTalk] There's 'ground', and then there's 'ground'

[Gary Schafer]

I wouldn't put too much credence in the site that you reference. That 
guy spouts out a lot of mis-information about lightning protection. Most 
of the references are ok but some are suspect. I have had many 
conversations with him. He seems to read lots of stuff and doesn't quite 
understand how to interpret it for a given situation.

As to using braid for grounding, there is nothing wrong with it if it is 
not corroded and it is indoors. Outside it will corrode and the 
resistance/ inductance will increase. And worse, when it is corroded you 
can't clean it properly to make a new connection when it needs to be 
repaired.
When it corrodes you loose the connection between wires and it becomes a 
series of crooked individual wires which have a longer length than the 
sum when everything is shorted to the next.

For high frequency RF braid may not be the best. But it is regularly 
used in rf gaskets in many applications.

Lighting energy is concentrated from DC to around 1 mhz. There are 
components that do go into the vhf range but most of the energy is in 
the dc to 1 mhz range.

73
Gary  K4FMX


Frank Donovan wrote:
> Here's a clarification, pointed out by an attentive towertalkian:
> 
> My previous e-mail was not intended to refer to cables that use
> a braided shield under a jacket.  A tight jacket compresses 
> the braid and it's a very effective RF conductor, provided that
> the braid is not corroded.
> 
> Rather, my comment was intended to apply to to the 
> inappropriate use of braided strap for RF grounding or lightning 
> protection.  Its been well proven that braided strap has far too 
> much inductance to be of any utility above 2 MHz.
> 
> So...   Lets try again:
> 
> Discard all forms of "braided" strap. 
> Braid is something a girl does to her hair.
> Braided strap is a poor RF conductor and it's a terrible conductor
> of lightning energy.
>  
> Use braided strap only for DC and audio applications, its just an 
> inductor for RF or lightning protection applications.
> 
> Here's an excellent reference from the many industry sources on this topic:
> http://members.cox.net/pc-usa/station/ground5.htm
> 
> 73!
> Frank
> W3LPL
> donovanf at erols.com
> 
> 
> 
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