[TowerTalk] Where to find Surplus wire for ground

[Jim Lux]

On 11/12/12 11:27 AM, Rick Scott wrote:
> Ive been trying to find information on grounding my station that's mid house with no real ground close. So I must go through the wall and down into the crawlspace.  I was told by an electrical engineer ham that I need 2ga wire minimum.  Well trying to tell the wife I need 10 -15 feet of wire that's 4 bucks a foot at the local big box, didn't go over well.
>

Why do you need AWG2?  Is it a lightning rod ground or do you have some 
particular reason to need that big?   AWG10 or AWG 6 would probably 
serve equally well, and is a LOT cheaper. (AWG6 is what is required by 
the electrical code for a bonding jumper) In commercial installations, 
AWG 2 is used a lot, but in that environment, the copper cost is small 
fraction of the total job cost (i.e. you're paying $50/hr or more for 
the guy that's dragging that wire off the truck and stringing it up)

You say you are grounding your station... do you mean grounding the 
chassis of your gear?  Or is it a ground for where the coax comes into 
the house?

> Looking over the phone book I didn't find anyone that does surplus wire anymore (Copper prices I guess) .
>

Exactly.. Copper is valuable enough that people actually steal wire from 
*live* streetlight circuits with 600V on them.

> Anyone know of a source?
>
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