[TowerTalk] TT SHUTDOWN (was: 4 awg copper wire and Amp locks)

[JC Smith]

Gary's right although copper strap can be overpriced depending on where you
find it.  Copper tubing is such a common commodity it's hard to overprice
it.  One other advantage tubing has is it's easy to protect from
weedwackers, lawnmowers (not the blades), etc.  Just run it inside a length
of thick hose.

I wonder... if you roll (the long way) copper strap you could put it inside
hose.  As long as the inside circumference of the hose was greater than the
width of the strap you wouldn't be forming a tube with the strap.  What if
you slit the copper tube before using it, would that be enough to allow both
the inside and outside to conduct high frequency current?

Just some thoughts.

73 - JC, K0HPS

-----Original Message-----
From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com]On Behalf Of Gary Schafer
Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2006 7:25 PM
To: 'Robert Chudek - K0RC'; towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] TT SHUTDOWN (was: 4 awg copper wire and Amp locks)


>
> One interesting idea that did came out of this thread (so far) is the use
> of copper tubing instead of solid wire. I'd like to hear more comments
> pro/con about this. I would expect tubing would be more cost effective and
> equal in the capability to dissipate the energy in a strike.

Copper tubing is a waste of money. Buy copper strap instead. You get much
more surface area for your money. Copper tubing has one whole side (the
inside) that is wasted. Copper strap makes use of both sides.

Copper pipe used as ground rods is expensive also compared to a regular
ground rod. Driving copper pipe you risk that it will bend or fold up as it
is being driven. In anything but sand it is almost impossible to drive a
copper pipe to a useful depth. It is the length and depth of a ground rod
that counts not the surface area. And no you don't want to wash it in with a
hose either.

73
Gary  K4FMX


_______________________________________________



_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk at contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk