The first time I put up a tower I just put the ground rods down from the bottom of the hole and brought the connecting wire up through the concrete. No problems happened, but maybe I just got lucky. Nobody had ever said anything to me to the contrary.
For radio grounding to earth, I use 1/2 inch copper pipe 10 foot length and get it in the ground hydrolically with a fitting that lets me put the garden hose to the end and shoot water from the other end to make the hole. Works really well. And I have wondered whether to connect another 10 feet and go deeper. I have 5 of those connected together in common. On Mon, Apr 17, 2017 at 8:25 PM, Walter Underwood <[email protected]> wrote: > House grounds and tower grounds are designed for different hazards (and > risks, which are hazards with dollars). > > Direct lighting strikes on houses are less common than power line surges. > So house grounds are designed for surges, which can be large. A direct > strike on a stucco house is going to vaporize the wire mesh and blow the > stucco off in several places. Ground rods won’t help that much. > > A tower is much more likely to get a direct strike. The grounding system > on a tower is designed to survive a feeder strike and reduce the > destruction (risk) of a direct strike. Better to melt the coax than burn > down the transmitter shack. > > When I was in high school in Indianapolis, my next door neighbor was a ham > with a tower. He had worked on lighting arrestors at GE. He explained that > a lighting pulse had so much high-frequency energy that it more followed > than conducted along a ground strap. It jumps from the strap to the > building and back about every two feet. Lightning systems are a hint, not a > directive. Nobody tells lightning what to do. > > I like what I do, but working on lighting arrestors? That would be COOL. > > wunder > K6WRU > Walter Underwood > CM87wj > http://observer.wunderwood.org/ (my blog) > > > On Apr 17, 2017, at 4:16 PM, Wes Stewart <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Clearly, you have something in mind different from me. > > > > https://www.tessco.com/products/displayProductInfo.do?sku=12952 > > > > Tell me how you avoid the exploding concrete myth using something like > this? > > > > Or with a bolted base plate: > > > > https://www.cableandwireshop.com/rohn-45g-tower-concrete- > base-plate-r-bpc45g.html > > > > Read the last sentence. > > > > > > On 4/17/2017 3:25 PM, Bill Johnson wrote: > >> No, unless adequate steps are taken to assure a large ground grid is > made. This requires more than just a slab. > >> > >> 73, > >> Bill > >> K9YEQ > >> > >> -----Original Message----- > >> From: Elecraft [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of > Wes Stewart > >> Sent: Monday, April 17, 2017 5:17 PM > >> To: [email protected] > >> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] OT: Groond rods and concrete > >> > >> Isn't the tower base pretty much a ground rod? > >> > >> On 4/17/2017 2:16 PM, Rose wrote: > >>> -NEVER- encase a ground rod in concrete ... especially a tower base. > >>> > >>> As a retired 2-way radio tech, I'm aware of two towers that had to be > >>> re-installed because of lightening strikes exploding their concrete > bases. > >>> > >>> 73! > >>> > >>> Ken - K0PP > >>> > >> ______________________________________________________________ > >> Elecraft mailing list > >> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > >> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > >> Post: mailto:[email protected] > >> > >> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > >> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > Message delivered to [email protected] > >> > > > > ______________________________________________________________ > > Elecraft mailing list > > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > > Post: mailto:[email protected] > > > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > > Message delivered to [email protected] > > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:[email protected] > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > Message delivered to [email protected] > -- 73 de Ted Edwards, W3TB and GØPWW and thinking about operating CW: "Do today what others won't, so you can do tomorrow what others can't." ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to [email protected]
