[TowerTalk] 4 awg copper wire and Amp locks

[Jim Lux]

At 01:18 AM 7/11/2006, Michael Tope wrote:
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Lux" <jimlux at earthlink.net>
>
>>At 07:38 PM 7/10/2006, Robert Chudek - K0RC wrote:
>>>Well we might as well shut down this Tower Talk reflector for as much good
>>>as it's doing... I can't believe after weeks of discussions regarding
>>>proper ground system bonding, this post has been made... The picture shows
>>>two violations... #1) a stranded ground wire and #2) a non exothermic
>>>connection.
>>>
>>>73 de Bob - K0RC
>
>
>>Well.. what might be good/standard practice in the commercial world may not
>>be needed in the amateur world. It's all about risk acceptance. Consider
>>transient protection for ham gear.. one could take the commercial approach
>>and protect everything 17 different ways ( a good idea if that gear is
>>supporting your income), or, I can do nothing, and be willing to lose it
>>all in the unlikely (here in SoCal) event of a nearby lightning strike.
>
>And just to put it all in perspective, consider how all the utililties
>entering your house are grounded. Is it an array of ground rods
>bussed together 00 cooper and Cadwelded connections? No, its a
>single 8ft ground rod with a compression clamp. And that's the
>electrical utility ground. Look at the CATV ground. It's a puny little
>ground block with a #12 AWG wire clamped through a #10 screw
>(if your lucky). Same for the telephone ground.
>
>73, Mike W4EF....................................

Good point, Mike.  However, the utility grounds are really designed more 
for handling fault currents from inadvertent line/ground shorts and the like.

As for CATV, they're notorious for being out of compliance.... there's a 
whole web site with a catalog of lame CATV installations, some of which are 
pretty spectacularly bad. {I liked the one with the coax drop using a power 
company feeder as a messenger line to support it.}  The CATV company 
doesn't much care, esp in SoCal, probably because the odds that they would 
actually have to pay out in a claim where their poor practices caused a 
loss are quite low.

And, for both CATV and phone, their interest is in protecting *their* 
physical plant, not yours.  You are the sacrificial element in their 
protection system.