[TowerTalk] Grounding the tower..alternatives

[Rick Ellison]

While on the subject of grounding I have a question.
I have 2 towers one I installed and one the previous home owner installed. My tower I have grounds coming from each leg hitting 3 ground rods.

The one the previous owner installed is a 30 foot crank-up that I only use for a 2 meter vertical at the moment. When installing the tower instead of pouring concrete He had 15' x 1/2" thick 3"x3" angle iron x3 legs that has been reinforced in the last 2 feet Pressed into the clay that we have under our grass. I never really thought about grounding this tower because it is direct contact with the earth. But should I add more grounding to this??

73's Rick N2AMG
Aim:n2amg
Yahoo:n2amg


> I'm using copper tubing, run inside garden hose while above ground,
> for my tower grounding "straps."  I usually do the same thing
> (flatten the ends and make large terminal lugs out of them), but
> where corrosion might be a problem, like on battery busses, I've
> been tinning the copper "terminals" with tin/lead solder.  I'm
> wondering if this will be good for connection to the tower?  I know
> there are terminals (bonding lugs) designed to make this
> connection.  Looking at some of the catalogs it appears they are
> made of all sorts of metals.  I see bronze, electro tin plated
> bronze, and aluminum (which is probably intended for aluminum
> wire).  There are also electroplated tinned copper lugs and
> unplated copper flat strap clamps, which are designated as tower
> grounding components (Harger catalog).  Banjo clamps of tinned
> bronze are also shown specifically for attachment to lattice
> towers.  Surface area in contact with the tower and in contact with
> the conductor appears to be a primary consideration.  UL 96
> Standard for Lightning Protection Components says a minimum of 1.5
> in. of conductor must be secured within the connector, and also
> that 1.5 in. of surface contact between conductor and ground rod is
> required.  Obviously, bonding surface area between the lug and the
> tower is important but I didn't see a minimum specified.
>
> It wouldn't be too difficult to fold and crimp the ends of the
> copper tube so that it would fit inside these commercial terminals
> just like a heavy gauge wire would, but it seems to be a better
> connection to the tower if the intermediate piece (the lug) was
> eliminated and the ground strap (the copper tube) secured directly
> to the tower (better continuous conductor surface area and fewer
> mechanical connections).  What does the collective wisdom here
> think?  Attach the bare copper strap directly to the galvanized
> tower, attach the tinned strap directly to the tower, or use some
> sort of intermediate lug?
>
> Thanks & 73 - JC, K0HPS
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com
> [mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com]On Behalf Of
> Cqtestk4xs at aol.com Sent: Thursday, July 20, 2006 4:08 AM To:
> TOWERTALK at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Grounding the tower..alternatives
>
> You need not go to the bother of flattening the hardline. You have
> the  same surface area with it round or
> flattened...........................K4FMX
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> The flattening of the hardline was only on the ends.  This made it
> easier to
> put flat against the tower (with a thin layer of stainless to
> prevent corrosion) and against the ground rod.
>
> Bill  K4XS
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