[TowerTalk] Station and tower grounding

[W0MU Mike Fatchett]

In known rocky areas I have found that you should drive them in on an 
angle.  It gives them a chance to deflect.  I found driving them into 
soil filled with river rocks to be much easier when slanted.


On 12/3/2016 10:39 AM, Patrick Greenlee wrote:
> I found that really difficult to drive rods would tend to bend when 
> hit really hard with  a sledge so... I cut a couple lengths of tubing, 
> one about a foot and the other a couple feet. They are sized to let 
> the rod go inside easily, a tight fit is not required.  With one of 
> these over the ground rod where it would bend it doesn't bend and it 
> keeps the force of the blows aligned with driving the rod, keeping it 
> "in column" and not being wasted flexing or bending the rod.
>
> I have also used an electric "demo" (demolition) hammer with a rod 
> driving bit and with patience could drive rods where hammering was 
> nearly impossible. I climb up a ladder to balance the electric demo 
> hammer on the rod. I don't have to support the hammer just balance it 
> and experiment with applying down force or just letting the hammer's 
> weight do the job.  Sometimes one works better than the other.
>
>
> Patrick        NJ5G
>
>
> On 12/3/2016 11:22 AM, StellarCAT wrote:
>> I did just that - borrowed a hammer drill - after 30 minutes it got 
>> me maybe, maybe 1/2".... I went back to hammering. It was more 
>> effective. The clay and sandstone here is terrible. More than likely 
>> the one that I borrowed wasn't big enough - although it was pretty 
>> darn substantial.
>>
>> Gary
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message----- From: Richard Thorne
>> Sent: Saturday, December 3, 2016 11:40 AM
>> To: towertalk at contesting.com
>> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Station and tower grounding
>>
>> Go rent a hammer drill and purchase a ground rod adapter for installing
>> ground rods.
>>
>> Makes quick work of installing an 8' ground rod.
>>
>> I had 5 ground rods installed in less than 30 minutes.  We have clay and
>> cliche here in the Amarillo panhandle.
>>
>> Rich - N5ZC
>>
>> On 12/3/2016 10:07 AM, Jeff Draughn wrote:
>>> I live in Kansas in an area that has some of the worst clay that I have
>>> ever had to deal with.
>>> It's sticky gooey terrible stuff, sticks to everything like epoxy!
>>> Trying to drive eight-foot ground rods's in the ground is near 
>>> impossible,
>>> I think the stickiness just builds to a point where it's near 
>>> impossible
>>> even using a 10 pound sledge.
>>>
>>> So my question is would several 4 foot rods placed approximately 4 feet
>>> apart be satisfactory?
>>>
>>> Thanks for your thoughts and inputs.
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> Jeff
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
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>>
>>
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