I'll let somebody who knows something answer most of what you ask, but I
can answer your first question. No, it is not necessary to drive ground
rods to the water table for a good ground. I probably did not need to
do what I did in Indiana, but I knew less then than I do now. If the
water table is high, however, like I enjoy, it is a leg up.
If your soil is like mine, mostly sand, you would probably be better off
with 10 foot rather than 8 foot ground rods, though, and several rather
than one.
You'll need better advice than mine for the rest of your inquiry,
Brother Dave.
Doc, N9AM
----- Original Message -----
From: DavidC <eDoc@netzero.net>
To: Richard Spindler <spindoc@digital.net>; Paul Finch
<paulfinch@email.msn.com>; TowerTalk Reflector
<towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 1999 1:50 PM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Grounding Wire/Strip
> > Here, I think the water table is at about four to six feet, so I
should
> > be OK with 8-foot ground rods. In Indiana, where I had an 80-foot
> > tower, I actually had a well-drilling company come out and sink a
pipe
> > to about 30 feet for a ground. Here, I am planning to put in two
> > 60-foot ground radials with five ground rods each, on two of the
legs,
> > and the attachment to the third leg will be the run to the ground
system
> > outside the ham shack (around 100 feet).
> > Doc, N9AM
>
> The water table here in west central Florida is 18-19 feet, or so I am
told.
> Is your understanding that I should drive a rod down to that depth to
> which to ground the tower?
>
> My tower will be about 100 feet from the shared ground for everything
in
> the house & shack. If I run one of my lines as 1" 75 ohm CATV coax
and
> ground the heavy shell at the tower base and at the shared ground
point
> do I really need to run an additional ground-only wire to the house?
>
> While I am digging trenches (sure a lot easier here than in NH!) I
want to
> try
> to anticipate needs. I have a thought of burying 2 or 3" PVC from
the
> shack
> to the tower to carry the coax and rotor control lines, is that worth
the
> extra
> cost and labor?
>
> Is there any advantage to routing such runs closer or further from the
house
> when they are parallel for 50 feet or so? I have the option of
curving
> close to
> the foundation or 10-15 feet away as I dig the trench. It doesn't
effect
> the
> length much but I wondered about inductively coupling lightning into
the
> house
> wiring.
>
> I was advised to extend wires parallel to the foundation out from the
shared
> ground
> to neutralize coupling that way but a concrete porch slab prevents me
from
> doing so.
> I will instead add a couple more ground rods to improve the quality of
the
> ground in
> the sandy soil and then Cadweld them together.
>
> Thanks! & 73, DavidC K1YP
>
> __________________________________________
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