[TowerTalk] Verticals and well pipe grounding

[Kelly Taylor]

It seems as though their suggestion on using water pipe ignores that even in a frost-free zone such as Hawaii you would want those pipes buried enough to avoid incidental damage, which I’m guessing is also enough to be beyond the skin effect of the earth surrounding them. In an area with a known frost line, those pipes are probably buried even deeper.

Now, a network of pipes buried like they’re suggesting might be a good safety ground, since if they’re metal, they’d have lots of contact with earth spread over a large area.

If they’re suggesting well pipe, that would be about as effective as a single ground rod. In other words, not very.

It also seems to fall into the trap “well, if it worked here, it must work there.” Happening upon a workable antenna does not mean it’s a repeatable design.

73, kelly, ve4xt, 






> On Feb 5, 2016, at 11:40 AM, dw <bw_dw at fastmail.fm> wrote:
> 
> For those who have expertise with verticals....
> Since the conversation has come up my interest has been perked.
> 
> Here is an article online article on tips for reducing ground-loss in
> vertical installations from Hawaii Ham Radio club.
> 
> http://www.chem.hawaii.edu/uham/radials.html
> 
> There is a section in the article called "Cool Water and other Ground
> Friends" where the use of well pipes for ground is described.
> 
> My question is...are they talking about using a well pipe instead of
> radials?
> And if so wouldn't it be true that the only benefit would be minimizing
> RF burns and possibly increasing the RF current for the radiating
> portion of the antenna?
> 
> Thanks
> Duane
> -- 
> Bw_dw at fastmail.net
> 
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