[TowerTalk] ground rod depth problem due to rocky soil -- solutions?

[Mat Eshpeter]

I have been reading the responses and have decided to try one last time to get the rods as deep as possible. Last time around I rented a 20 lb Hilti combination hammer drill/demo hammer. This time around I rented a 65lb electric demo hammer -- a Hilti 3000. So I will attack the mountain tomorrow and see what happens. I will be joining the rods together with 20 gauge 2" copper strap so I think I will have quite a bit of contact with the soil -- just under 700 linear feet.
thanks for all your responses.

From: K7LXC at aol.com
Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 09:49:39 -0500
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] ground rod depth problem due to rocky soil --     solutions?
To: towertalk at contesting.com; kk1c at live.com






>  I am finally getting around to putting up my 60' AN 
Wireless tower on top of a rocky ridge in WV. I rented a Hilti demo hammer and 
got about 1/3 of my rods in to the ground at least 4' -- but the majority are 
only 2 or 3 feet deep because of the rocks/ledges. I don't think I have much of 
a choice other than to cut the rods off and drive the remnants into the ground 
field and exothermically weld my 20 gauge copper strap to all of these shallow 
rods.
Other than paying big money for a well drilling rig to drill some deep 
6" holes and filling them with bentonite (which may not be possible given the 
slope of the land and the fact that I now have 8 trenches running 75' out from 
the tower pad) do I have any other practical alternatives?
 
    Sure. The rods can be installed horizontally.
 
Cheers,
Steve    K7LXC
TOWER TECH