[TowerTalk] copper or galvanized ground rods in red SC clay

[StellarCAT]

good point... maybe make the spacing from the tower closer to 6 or even 8'. 
I don't know if you can overkill it as long as you take into account the 
possibility of current saturation in the soil - for the cost of 3 ground 
rods and some #3 or #4 wire I'd rather chance the overkill then not.

I just did a Google search and it appears the thicker coatings on the copper 
(10 mils is standard) outlasts the 3.9mil coating on galvanized ~40 years to 
10-15. So seems copper is the way to go (also they're higher tensile 
strength - ~58K vs > 90K for the copper).

Gary

-----Original Message----- 
From: Kelly Taylor
Sent: Saturday, January 9, 2016 1:47 PM
To: StellarCAT
Cc: tower
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] copper or galvanized ground rods in red SC clay

Here's an interesting question: if the concrete base is an effective ground 
connection, do you get more value by placing the rods a rod length away from 
the base?

If the idea of separation is to prevent saturation during a strike, isn't 
the base and rod combo at risk of saturation if the rods are too close to 
the base?

73, Kelly
ve4xt

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jan 9, 2016, at 12:41 PM, StellarCAT <rxdesign at ssvecnet.com> wrote:
>
> Just curious if anyone has experience using either of these over a number 
> of years – whether they’re ‘eaten away’ one any faster than the other.
>
> Also the conductivity issue – not sure if it matters all that much for 
> lightning protection. Don’t know if you can ‘weld’ copper wire to the 
> galvanized ones using the welding devices (can’t remember what they’re 
> called at the moment).
>
> Finally: with 3 on a tower – one on each leg – the rule is to separate 
> them by their length correct? So if I have 3 each on about 5’ of wire from 
> the tower that would mean each would be over 8’ (8.66’)  from each other 
> .... this is correct – spaced at least equal to their length (depth)?
>
> Gary
> K9RX
>
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