That's why I said "in some conditions", Dick - I'm sure our soil is quite
alkaline, because there is limestone under the surface anywhere from a few
inches to a few feet, which is constantly leaching from rain water. My
only point was that in some instances the clamps may be sufficient, and
secondarily that inspection (at a lot more frequent intervals than mine,
hi) is necessary to know if more is needed.
73, Pete N4ZR
At 12:48 AM 9/19/2008, Dick Green WC1M wrote:
>You're lucky, Pete. About 12 years ago I dug up a rod that had been in the
>ground only 3 years. The clamp had completely disintegrated and the wire was
>no longer connected to the rod. Must be a lot more acid in our soil up here
>in NH, maybe from all that acid rain the factories in the Midwest used to
>send over here.
>
>This is why I converted to Cadweld joints. So far, they're holding up well,
>even after 11 years.
>
>73, Dick WC1M
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Pete Smith [mailto:n4zr@contesting.com]
> > Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2008 2:47 PM
> > To: towertalk@contesting.com
> > Subject: [TowerTalk] buried ground connections - a 13-year data point
> >
> > I thought this might be of some passing interest. Today I excavated
> > the
> > bare copper ground wire that I ran between each tower leg and an 8-
> > foot
> > copper-plated steel ground rod when my tower was installed in 1995.
> > The
> > connection between the wire and the ground rod was made with one of
> > those
> > "acorn-shaped" ground clamps. Since then, this connection has been
> > undisturbed under a couple of inches of moist West Virginia loam.
> >
> > I was fully prepared to find severe corrosion, or no wire left at
> > all. Instead, what I found was completely intact wire, a pristine
> > ground
> > rod, and an intact connection between the two that was still nice and
> > tight.
> >
> > What's the point? I don't know, except that, in some conditions,
> > simple,
> > quick and cheap may be quite adequate.
> >
> > 73, Pete N4ZR
> >
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