[TowerTalk] Fwd: Connecting Tower to Ground Rod

[john at kk9a.com]

Read K8RI's response again.  Silver is the best conductor listed and I have 
many silver plated Andrew and Amphenol connectors. Actually aluminum is only 
slightly worse than gold as a conductor so why would anyone use gold ground 
wire?  As Roger stated silver does oxidize, this reduces it's conductivity. 
I make sure that my connectors are clean before using them.

John KK9A


To:<towertalk at contesting.com>
Subject:Re: [TowerTalk] Fwd: Connecting Tower to Ground Rod
From:"Keith Dutson" <kdutson at sbcglobal.net>
Date:Wed, 9 Oct 2013 20:48:45 -0500
I am not certain how those numbers apply to conduction of current, but it
seems obvious they differ from what is used by industry.  I have never seen
copper plated PL259's.  Same for pins used in commercial plugs/sockets.

-----Original Message-----
From: TowerTalk [mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Roger
(K8RI) on TT
Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 2013 5:50 PM
To: towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Fwd: Connecting Tower to Ground Rod

On 10/9/2013 5:59 PM, Keith Dutson wrote:
> The goal is to conduct as many electrons as possible, flowing from a
> lightning strike, away from the tower.  IOW, spread them to a location
> that can accept them into the earth.  This lowers the possibility that
> they will go somewhere else, such as down a coax cable to the shack.
> So, it stands to reason that one would want to use the most conductive
material possible.
> Amoung conductors, gold is best, followed by silver.

Ahhh...Gold is not the best conductor compared to Silver
*Gold*: 2.24: Copper: 1.724: *Silver*: 1.59:
So both copper and silver are better conductors than gold with silver being
almost twice as good as gold.  Gold OTOH is tarnish resistant and is almost
like a lubricant on contacts

Silver easily corrodes and copper is not far behind.

73

Roger (K8RI)