Posted: 7/27/2011 7:04:52 PM EDT
|
I have access to a cold water pipe, there is a jumper bypassing the water meter and outside the copper tubing is buried all the way to the street, about 4 feet deep.
Is this a suitable ground for my IC 718 and to use for an antenna ground on a longwire? |
|
Perfectly suitable.
Just as long as it is copper and not pvc... haha... people have done that, tried to ground to a pvc pipe. My station ground is a big auger type ground anchor on one corner of the shack out back (workshop - hamshack). It is screwed about 5' into the ground, and we have a high water table, good conductive soil, and a lot of surface area on the auger blades. It's actually a far better ground than a longer plain ground rod would be. ETA: I have some 1" braid clamped to the auger. It runs over to my mast, buried so it does not get snagged by the mower or weed trimmer, and runs up into the shack where it is clamped to a 3' section of copper pipe on the back of the workbench. All of the various ground wires (short pieces of 10-ga stranded wire) are clamped to that copper pipe. On the other hand, my son (formerly Signal Corps) told me of the problems getting a good ground out at White Sands, NM when supporting 7th Cav. They would drive ground rods many feet into the ground, hitting nothing but sand, which is a perfect insulator. They would call over the water boys, dump a load of water on the ground rod, and they would then have a good ground for a day or so. |
|
Quoted:
Perfectly suitable. Just as long as it is copper and not pvc... haha... people have done that, tried to ground to a pvc pipe. My station ground is a big auger type ground anchor on one corner of the shack out back (workshop - hamshack). It is screwed about 5' into the ground, and we have a high water table, good conductive soil, and a lot of surface area on the auger blades. It's actually a far better ground than a longer plain ground rod would be. ETA: I have some 1" braid clamped to the auger. It runs over to my mast, buried so it does not get snagged by the mower or weed trimmer, and runs up into the shack where it is clamped to a 3' section of copper pipe on the back of the workbench. All of the various ground wires (short pieces of 10-ga stranded wire) are clamped to that copper pipe. On the other hand, my son (formerly Signal Corps) told me of the problems getting a good ground out at White Sands, NM when supporting 7th Cav. They would drive ground rods many feet into the ground, hitting nothing but sand, which is a perfect insulator. They would call over the water boys, dump a load of water on the ground rod, and they would then have a good ground for a day or so. Interesting. I wonder if this is why we have so many radio problems when trying to contact users on the ground. Radio contact is always sketchy with our ground parties. Sometimes it's great but most of the time it totally sucks and we will end up requiring a visual signal to get the appropriate message. I've talked to some of our Comm guys about radios and none of them seem to have any interest in radio. They don't have any understanding of the concepts. Just plug the radio in, set up the crypto, transmit and hope. 
|
|
I recently came across the USMC Antenna Field Manual, it goes over a couple of things to help ground conductivity for RF grounds for antenna's and station grounding. It mentions using salt, potassium nitrate, or sodium bicarbonate on the soil then watering.
It does have a reference to be sure that it will never reach drinking water, but in an emergency I am sure it can come in handy. Since I have been too cheap to buy the ARRL manual yet I will finish reading this one. 
ETA: http://www.armymars.net/ArmyMARS/Antennas/Resources/usmc-antenna-hb.pdf |
|
Quoted: I recently came across the USMC Antenna Field Manual, it goes over a couple of things to help ground conductivity for RF grounds for antenna's and station grounding. It mentions using salt, potassium nitrate, or sodium bicarbonate on the soil then watering. It does have a reference to be sure that it will never reach drinking water, but in an emergency I am sure it can come in handy. Since I have been too cheap to buy the ARRL manual yet I will finish reading this one. ETA: http://www.armymars.net/ArmyMARS/Antennas/Resources/usmc-antenna-hb.pdf Great manual. MARS has a lot of great info on their various websites. I believe the water reference is addressing surface water contamination into creeks and such. Somewhere somebody might fill up their canteens, etc. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Perfectly suitable. Just as long as it is copper and not pvc... haha... people have done that, tried to ground to a pvc pipe. My station ground is a big auger type ground anchor on one corner of the shack out back (workshop - hamshack). It is screwed about 5' into the ground, and we have a high water table, good conductive soil, and a lot of surface area on the auger blades. It's actually a far better ground than a longer plain ground rod would be. ETA: I have some 1" braid clamped to the auger. It runs over to my mast, buried so it does not get snagged by the mower or weed trimmer, and runs up into the shack where it is clamped to a 3' section of copper pipe on the back of the workbench. All of the various ground wires (short pieces of 10-ga stranded wire) are clamped to that copper pipe. On the other hand, my son (formerly Signal Corps) told me of the problems getting a good ground out at White Sands, NM when supporting 7th Cav. They would drive ground rods many feet into the ground, hitting nothing but sand, which is a perfect insulator. They would call over the water boys, dump a load of water on the ground rod, and they would then have a good ground for a day or so. Interesting. I wonder if this is why we have so many radio problems when trying to contact users on the ground. Radio contact is always sketchy with our ground parties. Sometimes it's great but most of the time it totally sucks and we will end up requiring a visual signal to get the appropriate message. I've talked to some of our Comm guys about radios and none of them seem to have any interest in radio. They don't have any understanding of the concepts. Just plug the radio in, set up the crypto, transmit and hope. When at 29 Palms California in the high desert it is common for the USMC Comm Guys to add a piss tube for the radio grounds. Just a standard old piece of pipe 4 inches in diameter with a point welded on it and holes in the side to let the urine out. The urine is salty enough and enough guys piss down it to keep a decent ground. I got out before the Sand Box, but I'd bet they do that today downrange. |