[TowerTalk] Tower Grounding Questions

[Larry]

The RF Connection also sells CadWeld.

73, Larry  W6NWS
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Lux" <jimlux at earthlink.net>
To: <towertalk at contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2011 12:06 PM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Tower Grounding Questions


> On 12/21/11 8:00 AM, Richard Solomon wrote:
>> A friend is putting up an LM-470 and asked about grounding it. Who
>> makes the Ground Kit for
>> the tower ? I have a couple of DX Engineering PPC-UNI-KIT-2CT kits,
>> will they do ?
>>
>> Also, what's the name of those one-shot chemical "bombs" used to weld
>> the ground cable to
>> the ground rod ?
>
> Exothermic Welding, generically..
>
> Erico Cad-Weld is a very popular brand (OneShot is one of their models)
> Thermoweld is another
> UniShot is another
>
> If you go to a electrical supply place, they'll carry one or more
> brands.  They'll also have the stuff you need to use it (some kinds have
> a reusable mold and you load the charge in each time from a little
> container).  There are fancy igniters and such, as well.  Do some
> research (there's been stuff on this list over the years). I've used a
> small torch to light them off, but I'm not sure that's actually 
> recommended.
>
> I've never seen this stuff at Home Depot or Lowes.. at least at the ones
> I go to, but that doesn't mean that some don't carry them.  You need to
> go to somewhere that really caters to "trade".
>
> You *could* make the stuff yourself, in the fine ham radio improvising
> way. It's just thermite...  Copper oxide and aluminum powder, piece of
> magnesium ribbon as fuse works nicely.
>
> What you are paying for with the commercial product is a nicely designed
> mold and consistent mixing of the weld material. The commercial ones
> also have a different mix at the ignition point to make it easier to
> start (I'm going to guess some sort of black powder type mix.. a good
> oxidizer and some fuel which gets good and hot, to get the metal
> oxide-aluminum reaction going).
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>