On 6/5/2012 2:08 PM, Lloyd Berg N9LB wrote in part: > I like the direct copper to soil DC contact rather than laying insulated wire > on/in the ground. Also the solid bare copper wire won't leach away into the > soil for 40-50 years. > > Never bury bare stranded wire because it disintegrates way too fast, > which is why the National Electrical Code requires that all ground wire > be solid. > > Lloyd,
I don't think that statement, about you having any benefit of bare copper in contact with earth, is completely correct. I always thought the whole purpose of a good ground system under a Marconi type vertical antenna was to make the currents flow in a highly conductive medium rather than in a lossy one like soil. (Which varies in conductivity all over the place.) Under you vertical on 160 is the one place you don't want your RF return path currents to flow is in a dissipating diaelectric soil with bare copper wire in contact with it. IMHO the radial system replaces the lossy medium by replacing it with a highly conductive medium. Reading the wonderful material from Guy, K2AV, I think demonstrates that principle, irrespective of the lack of quality of earth underneath, is found in his FCP counter poise design. So I would think that insulated wire laying on the ground or just below the grass is not only the easiest way to go but may also be more efficient. Laying inexpensive solid or stranded #16 on the grass held in place by fencing hook or large stapes pounded down in the earth will bury themselves under the growing grass mat in a few weeks, enough so that a mower or a string trier will not snag them. Another issue today is that if copper thieves see bare wire they will just rip it out of the ground. Insulated #16 stranded is essentially worthless to them. Herb, KV4FZ _______________________________________________ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK