[TowerTalk] Solid Tower Ground Wires

[Mike & Becca Krzystyniak]

Greetings,

   This wire was a barn find.  It ws coiled up in the rafters for storage
many years ago by an in-law.
   My guess is that it was up there for 40+ years.

   I just checked and the wire I have is not magnetic. I even checked using
one of those super magnets.
   The wire core looks reddish brown, and is distinct from the shiney copper
shell or margins.

   For grins I ran to Home Depot and the solid #4/#6 wire they sell there
looks the same, similar structure including the colored core.
   Of course the sales guy knows nothing (and I really wouldn't expect him
too).

   I guess I got some specification digging to do.  I have about a 50' coil.
   Maybe the best thing to do is just get new copper stranded wire so I know
what I have and put this stuff back in the barn.  
   
   Thanks again to all for the comments, pictures, links, and diagnostic
suggestions.

73  Mike K9MK


-----Original Message-----
From: TowerTalk [mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of
jimlux
Sent: Friday, May 17, 2019 1:39 PM
To: towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Solid Tower Ground Wires

On 5/17/19 8:39 AM, Mike & Becca Krzystyniak wrote:
> Greetings,
> 
>    As I install my new tower, I was dropping some ground rods next to the
> base and acquired some #6 solid copper wire to make the connections (or so
I
> thought).
> 
>    When I went to cut the wire I found out that it had a hard core, most
> likely steel.

Sounds like copper clad steel (aka Copperweld)..

How much did you pay for the wire (per pound) compared to the price of 
copper?  (about $2/lb today) That will give you a hint, 100ft is about 8 
pounds, so you'd expect it to be at least $16.  Home Depot is selling 50 
ft of AWG 6 for $37 (which is pretty expensive) or 500 ft for $237 ($6/lb)


>    I'm not sure this is plated as the outer copper ring is a substantial
> portion of the cross section.

40% copperclad steel would have a moderately layer of copper AWG 6 is 
0.162" in diameter and 1 ohm/1000 ft.
AWG 10 solid wire is 1 ohm/1000 ft and is 0.1" in diameter

So the cross sectional area of the copper for 40% CCS should be about 
the same as for AWG 10 - it works out to  cladding thickness of about 17 
mils (out of 162 mil diameter) - so that's pretty thin..
Is that what it looks like?



>    As I'm not familiar with the applicatio of this type of wire I wonder
if
> it is acceptable for the grounding connection between the tower and the
> ground rod?
> 
>    Thoughts or comments please.
> 
> Thank you.
> 
> Mike K9MK
> 
> 
> 
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