[TowerTalk] Ground Rod PlatingRe: TowerTalk Digest, Vol 220, Issue 8

[Steve Davis | Davis RF]

Byron,

Copper oxide conducts well, depending on its density.  But the rod is buried, limiting exposure to oxygen

If in fact the content is minerals asscociated with water, then the minerals should not deter conductivity.

One way to sort out the performance of the ground rod in soil, is to expose some of the questionable outer layer.  Lay an ohm meter probe sideways over that layer, don't pierce into it. With the other probe pierce into the top cut (the top end, in the middle) , so that you that your probe point is into the steel and connected to any copper layer that might cover the cut end (maybe none).   Take the resistance reading.

  Then go to where you bought the rods, do the same test at the same points on the rod as you did on the buried one.   Check the readings.  If within reson (Subjective, maybe 10 - 15%, your ok.

I will say though that of what I at least have studied ref. grounding in the past, I have never seen anything about this sort of concern when buried in
typical "dirt"  around the US.

Let me know if you go further with this, what you find out.

   Regards,  Steve  K1PEK   DavisRF. com     and DavisRopeAndCable.com
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From: TowerTalk <towertalk-bounces at contesting.com> on behalf of towertalk-request at contesting.com <towertalk-request at contesting.com>
Sent: Friday, April 9, 2021 12:00 PM
To: towertalk at contesting.com <towertalk at contesting.com>
Subject: TowerTalk Digest, Vol 220, Issue 8




Today's Topics:

   1. Ground Rod Plating (Byron Tatum)


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Message: 1
Date: Fri, 9 Apr 2021 04:15:41 +0000 (UTC)
From: Byron Tatum <bjtatum1 at att.net>
To: Towertalk Reflector <towertalk at contesting.com>
Subject: [TowerTalk] Ground Rod Plating
Message-ID: <2210846.46139.1617941741090 at mail.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8

Hello-? ? Possibly someone here may know answers, I would like to know about this. I had a 110' 45G tower up for about 8 years located about halfway between Houston and Galveston, TX. I had 6 x 10' copper clad steel ground rods down, interconnected with #2 solid copper wire. Soil was the gumbo as they call it. There were 2 rods going out from each tower leg under guy wire pattern. I used Cadweld One-Shots to attach #2 wire to ground rods. When I moved to this new QTH in East Texas I jacked the rods out of the ground and salvaged as much of the #2 wire as I could. All of the 6 ground rods had a grayish-white appearing crusty coating stuck on them, it was worse in the top 4' of the rods. Appears some form of mineral deposits. I used sandpaper to get it off but underneath the crusty outer part, up against copper, the material was plated onto the copper and took some work to get it sanded off. Appears I suffered no loss of copper cladding thickness.? ?Just curious what the material is, I
  assume it is same minerals that show up in hard water. Even more curious about, when a ground rod gets coated like this, does it suffer any loss of its performance?Thanks,Byron W5FH?

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End of TowerTalk Digest, Vol 220, Issue 8
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