I have been reading the responses and have decided to try one last time to get
the rods as deep as possible. Last time around I rented a 20 lb Hilti
combination hammer drill/demo hammer. This time around I rented a 65lb electric
demo hammer -- a Hilti 3000. So I will attack the mountain tomorrow and see
what happens. I will be joining the rods together with 20 gauge 2" copper strap
so I think I will have quite a bit of contact with the soil -- just under 700
linear feet.
thanks for all your responses.
From: K7LXC@aol.com
Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 09:49:39 -0500
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] ground rod depth problem due to rocky soil --
solutions?
To: towertalk@contesting.com; kk1c@live.com
> I am finally getting around to putting up my 60' AN
Wireless tower on top of a rocky ridge in WV. I rented a Hilti demo hammer and
got about 1/3 of my rods in to the ground at least 4' -- but the majority are
only 2 or 3 feet deep because of the rocks/ledges. I don't think I have much of
a choice other than to cut the rods off and drive the remnants into the ground
field and exothermically weld my 20 gauge copper strap to all of these shallow
rods.
Other than paying big money for a well drilling rig to drill some deep
6" holes and filling them with bentonite (which may not be possible given the
slope of the land and the fact that I now have 8 trenches running 75' out from
the tower pad) do I have any other practical alternatives?
Sure. The rods can be installed horizontally.
Cheers,
Steve K7LXC
TOWER TECH
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