[TowerTalk] Driving ground rods in rocky soil

[Dick Green]

There's really no point driving the rod in further if it will only be
embeded in rock or roots. That's not ground and will do you no good. It
would be one thing if you knew you would find ground once you got past the
rocks and/or root, but you really don't know what's down there. It could be
4 feet of ledge -- or even more. Even if you could drive a rod into that, it
won't serve as an RF or lightning ground.

I agree that surface or slightly sub-surface radials make more sense. I
would attach a heavy wire radial to the ground rod you have partially
installed, then run it under the sod for, say, 1/8-1/4 wavelength at 160m.
Add more if you feel like it.

73, Dick WC1M

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Peter Dougherty [mailto:w2irt at comcast.net]
> Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2007 5:47 PM
> To: jeremy-ca; towertalk at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Driving ground rods in rocky soil
> 
> At 05:10 PM 05/24/2007, jeremy-ca wrote:
> >If it MUST absolutely have a ground rod, which I dont understand
> >why, then drilling is one option it seems. You can rent air or
> >electric impact drills and extensions. You may want to treat the
> >soil down the hole with a saline solution and salt crystals as it
> >appears that you wont get much ground conductivity with just the rod.
> >
> >I live on a ridge with solid ledge less than 2' down and run on the
> >ground radials for my Beverages and elevated radials for verticals.
> 
> That's the description here, too. on the western side of a small
> rocky mountain. There are a few places I got an 8' rod down using the
> electrician's Bosch hammerdrill last year, but most only went down
> about 4 to 5 feet. I suspect this soil conductivity is also extremely
> poor. All this for a few countries on 160 and a few more on 80!
> 
> 
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Peter,
> W2IRT
>