[Lowfer] Ground Bus Idea

[Peter Barick]

I've been working to improve the my ground radials and Mike's idea of a
center bus collector gave me pause. Last year I used a screw-type bus
from an electrical cabinet. Now I want to change that.

Using Mike's thought of a CU pipe and radial wire soldered to it I came
up with a variant. Take a short piece of, say, 3/4 In by 18 In pipe and
saw cut a pair of slits across the face of it, enough to produce a 3/8
gap by 3/8 In long, the center part of which is pushed below the surface
forming a depression. This is filled with radial wire, say 4 of them,
and soldered, as one would solder CU pipe w/ a torch.

Another thought on the radial wire. If one wants 30 foot radials, cut
the wire 60 feet and strip at the center. Four such wires yields 8
radials. This process is repeated on the pipe. I would caution against
putting too many radials per pipe, instead construct a few groups of
them and bond together at a near central point.

This should also be handy when pulling up stakes in the spring, as I
do, and bundling it away. The other feature it to add 90 Deg ends with
other short CU piping and plug this into the earth for securing and
"grounding" the radials.

Also any problems seen using ACID core solder on this heavy work? It's
great as a flux.

Peter