Ed,

I find your idea of a salt water ground plane very intriguing. I imagine the
salts used would involve more than just table salt, and the chemistry would
have to be checked and adjusted regularly, similar to a swimming pool. The
problem of stratification could easily be solved with circulator pumps,
which would be turned off just prior to actual use (those of you near fault
lines might take advantage of natural agitation, your salt water pools would
be "shaken, not stirred").   : )

On a related note, does anyone have any experience doing EMC scans below
ground? It seems that the earth would be about the lowest cost shielding
material available. Perhaps an updated and enlarged version of the early
pioneers "soddie" (sod hut) might be just the ticket. It might even
incorporate a salt water ground plane. A side benefit would be that EMC
engineers might gain some useful exercise by swimming a few laps at lunch
time (how many laps around the turntable/raft equals one mile?).  : )

Scott Lacey

        -----Original Message-----
        From:   Price, Ed [SMTP:ed.pr...@cubic.com]
        Sent:   Monday, August 02, 1999 5:35 PM
        To:     'Arun Kaore'; 'emc-p...@majordomo.ieee.org'
        Subject:        RE: cost effective EMC facility


        Arun:

        I was just struck by what you said about "setup a Sea Plane or a
salt water
        based  site" . Has anyone ever set up an OATS using salt water as
the ground
        plane? Talk about excellent surface smoothness, easy to level and
cheap
        material, plus simple repair! (Uhh, could we say it fixes itself?)

        Just what conductivity would be enough? Could we get enough
conductivity
        before we reach salt saturation? 

        I suppose the upper limit on surface area would be when we get to
the point
        of the wind causing surface ripples. Or gravitational tides.

        Turntables might be a lot cheaper, too. Just a thin raft that
floats.

        Seriously, has anyone tried this for an OATS? (I seem to recall the
US Navy
        had a really big ship simulator here in San Diego, where they placed
scale
        models of ships on a sheet-steel "sea" in order to model HF wire
antennas.)

        Regards,

        Ed

        
:-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):
        -):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-)
        Ed Price
        ed.pr...@cubic.com
        Electromagnetic Compatibility Lab
        Cubic Defense Systems
        San Diego, CA.  USA
        619-505-2780 (Voice)
        619-505-1502 (Fax)
        Military & Avionics EMC Services Is Our Specialty
        Shake-Bake-Shock - Metrology - Reliability Analysis
        
:-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):
        -):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-)
        

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