[TowerTalk] Copper grounding bus bar

[Jeff Carter]

I've always wondered about that, skin effect being what it is and all.  Why 
wouldn't aluminum be just as good in this particular application?  
Considering cost, why wouldn't it be vastly better?

I've never met anybody who was worried about the propagation velocity of their 
ground system.  Then again, I don't know everybody, either...yet.

Jeff/KD4RBG

On Wednesday 12 September 2007 15:38, Jim Lux wrote:
> Terry wrote:
> > I'm looking at copper sheet on these sites to be used as a SPG plate
> > about 16" x 16".  What would be the minimum thickness to be
> > "self-supporting" as opposed to laminating it on some substrate as
> > Polyphaser does?
> >
> > 73 de Terry KK6T
>
> unless you want to solder directly to the plate, why not use aluminum.
> It's a lot cheaper, much easier to work with (drilling thick copper is a
> chore, tapping even more so, prepare to buy many spare taps and use lots
> of lube.. soldering to a big sheet of thick copper would require a
> fairly high output torch, too).  I'd find it hard to believe that the
> conductivity difference would be significant (for DC & line frequency,
> the thickness of the aluminum helps, for RF, it's a big flat surface
> either way).  A wide variety of lugs are available, and a nice tapped
> hole in the aluminum will make fairly good contact.
>
> If you feel that the copper is important, slap a big piece of copperclad
>   PC board material on top of the aluminum, or stick copper flashing on.
>   You could also put copper foil tape on the aluminum in places where
> you think it's important. 3M makes a kind with conductive adhesive.
>
>
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