[Cliffdwellers] grounding to water pipe

[Ronald KA4INM Youvan]

 > Generally solid wires are supposed to work better than stranded for
 > ground connection. I am not sure it is a big deal.

   It can be a big deal, the twisting of stranded wire is inductance
which is our enemy.  Lightning is a high frequency occurrence and any
inductance is like adding a resistance in series with your ground wire.
Flat copper strip is better than anything round, a piece of copper pipe
should be a big improvement over stranded wire.  (the soft kind)
Braided cable has the inductance of stranded wire and a poor strand
to strand contact, making it about the worse thing to use.
   Stranded wire is far better than no wire.
   I would very much try to make a direct connection from your radio shack 
(equipment) to the power ground at your main power service entrance panel
(or the ground under the power meter socket) before connecting to the nearest pipe.
   The pipe to pipe contact is through threads floating in an oil/clay mixture 
with galvanized steel piping and is a poor choice.
Copper piping could have dozens of angles (corners) going around every little 
obstacle, enhancing the inductance between your gear and the true ground.
-- 
        73 (= Best Regards) de: Ron ka4inm at tampabay.rr.com
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