[HCARC] Ham Shack Table Coverings

[Kerry Sandstrom]

Gary,

I'm the one that mentioned copper covered work benches.  We used them when 
we were making certain kinds of measurements where we had to establish a 
ground plane.  The copper top was our ground plane.

I can think of no reason that any ham would cover his bench with copper.  We 
don't do any of the testing that required the ground plane.  In addition, 
copper isn't particularly easy to keep clean

There is a company that advertises in QST that sells copper ground busses. 
I believe they are bars, probably 1/4" by 1/2 " or so (and very pricey as 
far as I'm concerned!).  In any event, plain old 1/4"copper braid is 
adequate for a safety ground to make sure all your equiupment has the same 
ground reference for the power source, but is inadequate for an RF ground. 
I don't believe bar stock is much better for RF.  The Rf stuff in your 
station should be connected by coaxial cable and that does an adequate job, 
no additional RF ground is needed.

Kerry