[TowerTalk] Thoughts on a Grounding System for my new tower

[Jim W7RY]

Don’t run the ground wire in conduit. Run it in the ground... Works better 
that way ;) Keep the ground wire at least 24 inches from other conductors. 
Ground radials with rods are a great way to go. Keep the rods spaced at lest 
1.5 to 2.0X length of the rod. Installing rods on the ground conductor as it 
runs between the house and tower base is also a good idea. Use exothermic 
welding for all of the ground connections used outdoors.

Run the cables up underneath of the mobile home. I put a piece of pipe 
through the floor. That way you can keep the extra length under the house.

Agreed. Use PVC.

When you provide for drain holes in the conduit, make sure they can't snag 
cables wile being pulled in.

Sounds like a great project!
73
Jim W7RY



-----Original Message----- 
From: Joe Subich, W4TV
Sent: Sunday, September 02, 2012 3:22 PM
To: towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Thoughts on a Grounding System for my new tower



> Your thoughts appreciated.  This is my plan as of right now.

1) I would run the coax and the ground/power via the same route
even though they would be in separate conduits.

2) I would not bury steel conduit ... it will most likely rust
    in short order.  Use PVC conduit even for power and pull an
    extra ground conductor if necessary.  Better yet, get an
    armored cable designed for direct burial and avoid conduit
    completely.

73,

    ... Joe, W4TV


On 9/2/2012 5:54 PM, Larry Loen wrote:
> OK, I got the base poured this week (haven't been out to look at it)
> so now it is time to get serious about getting the tower going (tower
> will be delivered in about six weeks maybe).
>
> Next big step is to get the electrical and coax out to it.
>
> Your thoughts appreciated.  This is my plan as of right now.
>
> See flikr picture here:
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/lwlpix/7916824198/in/photostream/lightbox/
>
> The center of the red cross is where the tower will be.  For
> convoluted reasons, my shed is between my operating position and the
> shack.
>
> Right now, I can only get my hands only on 8 foot copper grounding
> rods, so I'm planning accordingly.
>
> 1.  At the tower, I will have two grounding rods (about 20 feet total
> in each direction) radiating out from the tower.  I plan on having the
> AC nearby (AC buried 24 inches as per code) below where the ground
> wire back to the house is going to go (shallower, same hole).   Should
> I make these separate holes (ground wire and the AC)?  If so, it's a
> bit of a problem, because they will have to be reasonably close
> anyway.  I'm not sure where the drain field runs, exactly, so I don't
> want to be digging "east" of the purple lines if I can avoid it.  I'm
> also having the third such "radiation" just keep right on going back
> to the shack.
>
> 2. I plan on having no ground poles between the shack and the house,
> just steel conduit (grounded by definition) going back to the house's
> electrical box, the electrical service is roughly on the left (west)
> end of the house inside.  Since it is a mobile home, I should be able
> to route the cable up into the box without a lot of fuss, I hope.  The
> main comes up that way.  This bit, I am hiring out anyway; the
> connection to the home circuit.
>
> 3. I will have a "box" of ground wire around the house (clearing the
> mobile-home-of-a-house by five or ten feet, perhaps, see purple
> rounded square).  There will be the common area where the coax is
> grounded to a box and that to the grounding system right outside the
> operating position (on the east or right hand side of the house).
>
> 4,  I will bury the coax in 4 inch PVC as deeply as I can manage.  I
> will have at least a couple of "T" joints to enable drainage pipes to
> reach the surface to keep the coax mostly dry.  There will be no
> connectors for the coax anywhere in the pipe, including the junction.
> The "junction" area will be something suitable that I am still looking
> for (some sort of large-ish plastic barrel that will enable me to
> service the cable runs had have them readily go "around" the angled
> corner it will create).  The big headache is the wash (see green
> line).  It is as much as 2 feet deep.
>
> 5.  A colleague who just did this has some nice, thick copper wire at
> the base of the tower.  With his help, I'll duplicated what he did for
> that.  He had some custom "jigs" so that the wire would attach very
> nicely to the tower.
>
> 6.  The AC and the shack entry will not be a single point of entry;
> they will be about 30 feet apart.  No real way to improve on that;
> just the reality of the home's layout.
>
> 7.  The grounding line will be #6 copper and I plan on doing the
> welding thing (though I am struggling to figure out how to do that).
>
> Since mine is a crank up, I'm not sure how to run a "real" lightning
> rod.  There will be coax arms, but they will have coax in them
> (obviously).  Where would I run lightning rod wire, or do I just skip
> it for this?  The mast will be a good eight feed above the top of the
> tower (structural support for the KT36).
>
> Any thoughts would be appreciated.
>
>
> Larry Wo0Z
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>
_______________________________________________



_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk at contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk