[Boatanchors] Ground Rod

[Ray Friess]

Unless you have been going through a VERY severe drought, the earth 
below your home and yard,
depending on the type of dirt of course , is usually always going to be 
moist enough to provide a
satisfactory ground.     The dirt below my home and yard is almost 
entirely clay ....  it is hard to keep
a good lawn growing it is so clayish ...  and water doesnt seep down 
deep.   However, having dug
holes down and driven rods down, I can tell that even though it is clay, 
it is still moist enough in the
clay to provide a good ground.     It's just not permeable so the water 
doesnt flow down and out like
it will with good topsoil....
     Unless you are built on solid rock you should be able to get a 
satisfactory ground for RF
purposes with a long ground rod.....    You just have to find a place 
that will let you get through
or around the rocks....
     Remember, the ground rod is for RF purposes, not DC potential 
purposes .... and from what I
have read and been told, RF ground actually BEGINS about three feet 
below the surface of the
ground.    SO, if your beam or antenna is 30 feet above ground surface, 
it is theoretically 33 feet
above RF ground ...  so you pick up an additional three feet in antenna 
"height" by default....


Brian Clarke wrote:

>Hi Gary,
>
>I think there may be a misunderstanding here.
>
>The ground rod can only work if it can conduct electrons between the rod and the 
>Earth. When Earth is dry, it is a fairly good insulator. When the Earth is wet, it 
>ionises the salts and allows electrons to move. So, the ideas of using the rod as a 
>hydraulic ram - not hydrostatic - can't be as the rod is moving - or of using a hollow 
>pipe fed with tap water under a little pressure is a good one. 
>
>The manuals issued to electrical distribution authorities' and telco's workers make 
>it quite clear that the better grounds are maintained wet and seeded with highly 
>ionisable salts, eg, copper sulphate, sodium chloride. But these will eventually eat 
>away at your ground rods - which will need replacing. When to replace? When the 
>Earth resistance that you measured just after you established your ground rod 
>system, starts to rise no matter how much water or salt you add.
>
>Why do you want a ground system, anyway? You should aim for a dipole antenna 
>and then the ground system is irrelevant. If you use a vertical, then you can use a 
>ground system or you can use a counterpoise - much less expensive and can be 
>above ground. The main use for a ground system is to carry away lightning currents.
>
>73 de Brian, VK2GCE.
>
>Gary opined:
>
>  They may go down easy but you don't have a good ground when you do that. 
>  The earth needs to be all left intact in order to be a good ground 
>  connection.
>
>  In reply to Gary:
>
>    Don't know how rocky your soil is, but an
>  > electrician buddy told me how to drive an 8' ground rod in normal soil with
>  > nothing but bare hands and a cup of water.  Dig a little hole and pour the
>  > cup of water in it.  Push the rod into the hole and keep working it up and
>  > down, forcing the water ahead of the rod as a hydrostatic ram.   Not
>  > intuitive but it really works - I planted 6 rods in 30 minutes!
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