[TowerTalk] Solid Tower Ground Wires

[K9MA]

Ah, the poor man's 4-wire ohmmeter. That would be about 0.4 V at 20 A. 
If it's copper.

Or, you could weigh a length of it an do some arithmetic.  I suppose 
that  might not rule out a high resistivity copper alloy, if there is 
such a thing.

73,
Scott K9MA

On 5/18/2019 07:42, Gedas wrote:
> Pass 10-20 DC amps through it and measure the voltage drop. At 50' 
> long this will give you a good idea of it's resistivity. Of course if 
> you have a trusted low resistance ohm meter (4-wire) you can use that 
> also.
>
> Gedas, W8BYA
>
> Gallery at http://w8bya.com
> Light travels faster than sound....
> This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
>
> On 5/18/2019 7:55 AM, Mike & Becca Krzystyniak wrote:
>> 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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>> _______________________________________________
>>

-- 
Scott  K9MA

k9ma at sdellington.us