[TowerTalk] Grounding

[Jim Brown]

On 9/3/2019 2:47 PM, RCM wrote:
> Go here and download the R56 document.

Note that 1) this is a procedural document for VHF/UHF repeater sites; 
2) it's written for industrial budgets; 3) these sites are usually on 
mauntaintops, where soil conductivity is generally quite poor, 4) it's 
99.9% about lightning protection; and 5) I'll bet it's got of lot of 
overkill to prevent any legal challenges.

That said, lighting is a bad motha, and cares not a whit about any of 
the above. :)  I haven't read the document, but the most important 
fundamentals are about BONDING EVERYTHING!

I once had an HF station at a decommissioned AT&T Long Lines site 
Microwave on a mountaintop in Nor Cal that my friend owns, and I had the 
opportunity to study the documentation for station grounding (it was 
built in the '50s). This is an area with terrible soil conductivity, and 
it's all about bonding.

The tower is about 150 ft tall, 32 ft square at the base, 24 ft square 
at the top, and originally had a bunch of BIG dishes and BIG feedline, 
some of which has been removed to make room for antennas for other systems.

73, Jim K9YC