[TowerTalk] Shack ground

[Tom Anderson]

Trouble is "nothing" is near the AC power common ground.  Its on the other side of the house from the shack.  I'd have to figuree out a way to either dig through a concrete patio and a concrete driveway to reach a common ground.  Looking at possibly 75+ feet either trenching through the patio and driveway or somehow going underneath the patio, driveway and part of the house to reach it.  

I do have all three legs of my tower with a ground rod for each and all three tied together with solid #4 copper wire and three ground rods (8 ft.) in a large flower bed outside the shack window for the rigs with a common point ground for all rigs..  Nearly all of the Home Depots, Lowe's etc. around here just carry 8 ft. ground rods, but we were at a Home Depot near Beaver Creek CO a couple years ago on vacation (also picking up my new Alpha 9500 in Boulder at Alpha's plant too since I didn't trust the freight companies) just had 10 ft. copper ground rods.  You ask the folks around the HD's and Lowe's here about 10 ft ground rods and they look at you funny.

73 de Tom, WW5L



--- On Wed, 6/16/10, Gary Schafer <garyschafer at comcast.net> wrote:

> From: Gary Schafer <garyschafer at comcast.net>
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Shack ground
> To: k7dd at cox.net
> Cc: "'TowerTalk'" <towertalk at contesting.com>
> Date: Wednesday, June 16, 2010, 8:34 PM
> No need to relocate anything. Just
> run all cables to a common (single) point
> (including AC power) that is very near your ground system.
> Then feed the
> shack with everything from there. See my previous post.
> 
> 73
> Gary  K4FMX
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com
> [mailto:towertalk-
> > bounces at contesting.com]
> On Behalf Of Michael Baker
> > Sent: Wednesday, June 16, 2010 6:42 PM
> > To: 'W2RU - Bud Hippisley'; 'Tom Anderson'
> > Cc: w4lde at numail.org;
> 'TowerTalk'
> > Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Shack ground
> > 
> > Relocation is also not always practical nor is it
> inexpensive.
> > Professional
> > Electricians don't come cheap and moving an
> underground service entrance
> > is
> > very involved and sometimes simply can't be done due
> to local codes and
> > the
> > location of the service main.
> > My house is at the end of a street and the service
> entrance is opposite my
> > shack just outside my attached garage opposite the end
> of the street. I
> > would hazard a guess and say that maybe $4000 might
> cover it due to
> > trenching, new copper entry wire, a new entry panel
> and all the hardware,
> > local build fees and inspections, new concrete and
> landscaping as well as
> > a
> > new sidewalk and driveway.
> > A single piece of 4/0 cable run from one end to the
> other would be cheaper
> > even with several ground rods and eutectic
> bonding.  Even if you include
> > the
> > trencher, having the driveway concrete sawed and
> filled afterwards, new
> > bit
> > of concrete work to fix the cuts, etc is couldn't cost
> even half of that.
> > 
> > Speaking of low impedance grounds, a flat sheet of
> copper with the
> > equivalent mil volume as a wire will have a much lower
> impedance.  4"
> > copper
> > sheet that is .01" thick works wonderful even on
> mountain top sites. It
> > just
> > makes attaching it to the ground rods a bit trickier
> to deal with.  ;>)
> > 
> > Michael Baker  K7DD
> > k7dd at cox.net
> > 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com
> > [mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com]
> On Behalf Of W2RU - Bud
> > Hippisley
> > Sent: Wednesday, June 16, 2010 3:15 PM
> > To: Tom Anderson
> > Cc: w4lde at numail.org;
> TowerTalk
> > Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Shack ground
> > 
> > 
> > On Jun 16, 2010, at 5:27 PM, Tom Anderson wrote:
> > 
> > > Most grounding books and articles suggest tying
> the station ground to
> > the
> > power company ground, but what do you do if the power
> company ground is on
> > the opposite side of the house from the shack?
> > 
> > Relocate the shack, or relocate the service
> entrance.  In my case, we did
> > the latter....
> > 
> > I also had the telephone entrance relocated so that it
> came into the house
> > within a few feet of the power line.  All grounds
> (power, telco, and ham
> > shack cables) are tied together just outside the
> shack.
> > 
> > Bud, W2RU
> > _______________________________________________
> > 
> > 
> > 
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