[TowerTalk] Grounding Standard

[Keith Dutson]

I bought a roll of solid 2 tinned from Elliott Electric Supply down the
street.  That's what they sell to Centerpoint Energy to ground power poles.
How much do you need?  I don't think I will use the whole roll.

73, Keith NM5G

-----Original Message-----
From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of jeremy-ca
Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2007 10:10 AM
To: Larry Burke; 'towertalk reflector'
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Grounding Standard

I see no reason why tinned stranded wire couldnt be used since the oxidation
issue of bare copper is minimized.

However 2/0 is ridiculous for ham towers, perhaps it is a typo in the regs
and they meant #2??

Also why not use jacketed battery cables?  You can buy #4, #2, 0, 00 and 000
in either bulk or pre made lengths from places that cater to antique autos,
farm equipment and heavy trucks. It is easy enough to seal the ends. I use
00 on my 1954 Ford F350 6V system.

Carl
KM1H



----- Original Message -----
From: "Larry Burke" <wi5a at sbcglobal.net>
To: "'towertalk reflector'" <towertalk at contesting.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2007 10:46 AM
Subject: [TowerTalk] Grounding Standard


>
> As I understand it, back on January 1, 2006, tower grounding standards in
> the US were specified in ANSI/TIA-222-G-2005 to state that the connections
> between the tower and grounding electrodes, or between the electrodes
> themselves, shall be no smaller in surface area than 2/0 solid (way up 
> from
> #6 AWG in the previous revision of the standard). Also, the grounding
> electrodes shall be a minimum of 5/8 inch diameter and 10 ft long.
>
> I decided I'd see how "doable" this standard is on a ham budget. The first
> roadblock I came across was in even finding 2/0 solid. I called one of the
> largest electrical suppliers in the Houston area (think heavy industry,
> refineries, etc) and got a big "huh?" when I asked their wire and cable 
> guru
> about this. He didn't have a clue where one could get such a thing. He 
> also
> offered that he sells plenty of #2 AWG solid tinned for this application,
> but has never been asked about solid 2/0. So maybe it really doesn't have 
> to
> be "solid"..
>
> Further digging resulted in a Wireless Estimator article that indicated 
> the
> "2/0 solid surface area" could be met with the use of 2/0 or 4/0 tinned
> concentric strand. Yet I see respected folks on TowerTalk advise against 
> the
> use of stranded wire in ground service. I guess copper strap could also be
> used if of the appropriate surface area.
>
> Am I missing something here? Is anyone in the amateur actually using this
> part of the standard? Does the standard even apply to amateur 
> applications?
> Does anyone know what prompted the huge increase from #6 AWG to 2/0? Is it
> really not advisable to use stranded wire in ground service? Is there 
> really
> any value in having a 10ft ground rod vs an 8 footer?
>
>
> Larry Burke WI5A
>
>
>
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