At 09:59 AM 1/21/2007, you wrote:
>Has anyone had experience using copper sulfate as applied to the soil
>surrounding a ground mounted vertical???? Some hams in my area have the
>belief that applying it to the soil will improve the ground efficiency on
>par with installing radials. Opinions??
"belief" is the right word. fact is somewhat different.
It will improve the DC conductivity, in the region of the rod, until
it leaches away.
The advantage of a radial field is that it effectively increases the
conductivity over a large area, making the soil surface a closer
approximation to the "infinite conductive plane".
Copper sulfate (or other salts) might be useful for a DC or low
frequency (60Hz) application, where what you want is a good "wire
connection to the earth", but not so hot for an application where
what you really want to do is improve the RF properties over a large area.
Unless you want to "sow your fields with salt" and then water
heavily, to get that "salt marsh ground plane", but that's going to
take a LOT of salt.
And, even for DC ground rod kinds of applications, maintenance and
corrosion are issues.
Jim, W6RMK
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