[Elecraft] OT: Groond rods and concrete

[Ted Edwards W3TB]

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 <wunder at wunderwood.org>
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 <wes_n7ws at triconet.org> 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:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of
> Wes Stewart
> >> Sent: Monday, April 17, 2017 5:17 PM
> >> To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
> >> 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
> >>>
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-- 
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."