[TowerTalk] Copper Sulfate

[Jim Lux]

At 09:59 AM 1/21/2007, you wrote:
>Has anyone had experience using copper sulfate as applied to the soil
>surrounding a ground mounted vertical????  Some hams in my area have the
>belief that applying it to the soil will improve the ground efficiency on
>par with installing radials.  Opinions??


"belief" is the right word. fact is somewhat different.

It will improve the DC conductivity, in the region of the rod, until 
it leaches away.

The advantage of a radial field is that it effectively increases the 
conductivity over a large area, making the soil surface a closer 
approximation to the "infinite conductive plane".

Copper sulfate (or other salts) might be useful for a DC or low 
frequency (60Hz) application, where what you want is a good "wire 
connection to the earth", but not so hot for an application where 
what you really want to do is improve the RF properties over a large area.

Unless you want to "sow your fields with salt" and then water 
heavily, to get that "salt marsh ground plane", but that's going to 
take a LOT of salt.

And, even for DC ground rod kinds of applications, maintenance and 
corrosion are issues.

Jim, W6RMK