Homemade Ground Rod?
Richie L. Allen
a deal on bent joints of copper pipe, although you have to auger a hole to
plant it.
Victor L. Trucco wrote in message <36cb9c1...@news.teleport.com>...
>As I was shelling out $17.00 for a Radio Shack 8 ft. ground rod, I got
>to wondering if there was a cheaper alternative...
>
>Does anyone on the group have any ideas?
>
>I was thinking I could use a 8 ft. length of copper pipe and attach
>the ground wire with a metal hose clamp. Would this work?
Victor L. Trucco
to wondering if there was a cheaper alternative...
Does anyone on the group have any ideas?
I was thinking I could use a 8 ft. length of copper pipe and attach
the ground wire with a metal hose clamp. Would this work?
Thanks,
Victor Trucco
KD6PTO
Danny R. Barnes
for a copper clad steel ground rod, should not cost anywhere near RS
price. We have used these in Petro-Chem plants.
Getting copper pipe into the ground without damaging the pipe will be a
problem, unless you can use a water hose connection and hydro drill it
into the ground.
Danny
J W Schermerhorn
Victor,
You can use a length of 1/2" rigid (hardened) copper tubing. It helps to
fill it with sand so it won't bend. Put a copper cap on the top for
driving it and flatten the other end to a point so it will be easier to
drive into the ground. It's best to solder the ground wire to the tubing
with a propane torch so the connection will last. You should "tin" the
solder area on the copper pipe before you drive it in the ground. Tin
the wire too. Then it will be easier to solder the wire to the pipe when
it's in the ground. The earth can absorb a lot of heat.
CommQuart
hardware. You really want a solid, low resistance
contact at that point! BTW, a heavy duty ground 10
foot ground rod runs about 17 dollars, with the acorn
for attaching the wire, from Graybar.
Pete
Victor L. Trucco wrote in message <36cb9c1...@news.teleport.com>...
Christopher A. King
>First check out a Home Depot, Builders Square, Lowe's or a hardware store
>for a copper clad steel ground rod, should not cost anywhere near RS
>price. We have used these in Petro-Chem plants.
I bought four from Home Depot for my ground system. The local ham shop
wanted $20.00 apiece for essentially the same thing.
>Getting copper pipe into the ground without damaging the pipe will be a
>problem, unless you can use a water hose connection and hydro drill it
>into the ground.
I pounded mine into the ground dry. Took forever (divide 8ft. into about
3/16" increments, and that's how many swings it took to get each of them
driven into the ground, then multiply that by four, then add high clay
content in the soil... my arms were killing me afterwards. :^) The next
door neighbors probably thought I was prospecting for oil). The top of
the rods flared out a bit from the hammering, but I filed this back a bit
so that I could get the clamps for the bus wire over the ends of the rods.
Sealed all of that up with some "liquid electrical tape" (also available
from Home Depot) to protect the clamp/wire/rod area from corrosion and
oxidation, before burying all of this under the sod. I ran the bus from
the rods, underground, and came up out of the ground near my RG-8 feed to
the sloper at the point closest to the ground, and attached to the shield
by fabricating a grounding block similar to those you see for 75 ohm
installations (like the clamps used for grounding DSS installations). I
got one of those Amphenol bulkheads, like an SO-239 but 3" long and threaded
all the way across, and got a 3/4" grounding pipe clamp (Home Depot, again)
and put that on the bulkhead, in the center. Cut the RG-8, attached PL-259s
on the cut ends, and spliced into the ends of the bulkhead in between them.
The pipe clamp has a screw terminal for ground wire, and that was where I
attached the bus from the ground rods, and sealed all of this up as well.
Mounted the grounding clamp on an electrical plate, and mounted this at
the base of the house.
Worth all of the effort, though; significantly reduced noise in reception
on LW/MW/SW, and gave a bit of signal boost as well, on the S-meter.
C.K.
James Aeschliman
In a previous article, tru...@teleport.com (Victor L. Trucco) says:
>As I was shelling out $17.00 for a Radio Shack 8 ft. ground rod, I got
>to wondering if there was a cheaper alternative...
>
>Does anyone on the group have any ideas?
>
>I was thinking I could use a 8 ft. length of copper pipe and attach
>the ground wire with a metal hose clamp. Would this work?
>
Yes. The trick is driving the pipe into the ground without bending or
mangleing it. 73
--
A.D. 1999 - The LAST year of the 1900's.
A.D. 2000 - The LAST year of the 20th Century.
Jim Aeschliman, W7WJM
Black Diamond, Washington w7...@arrl.net
James Aeschliman
Good, except for the comment about soldering the ground wire to the
tubing. For lightning protection, it must be clamped, not soldered.
Solder melts, then you don't have any ground at all. The clamp will
if there's intense heat, maintaining the ground. 73
In a previous article, sk...@capital.net (J W Schermerhorn) says:
>2/18/99
>
>Victor,
>
>You can use a length of 1/2" rigid (hardened) copper tubing. It helps to
>fill it with sand so it won't bend. Put a copper cap on the top for
>driving it and flatten the other end to a point so it will be easier to
>drive into the ground. It's best to solder the ground wire to the tubing
>with a propane torch so the connection will last. You should "tin" the
>solder area on the copper pipe before you drive it in the ground. Tin
>the wire too. Then it will be easier to solder the wire to the pipe when
>it's in the ground. The earth can absorb a lot of heat.
>
>Victor L. Trucco wrote:
>>
>> As I was shelling out $17.00 for a Radio Shack 8 ft. ground rod, I got
>> to wondering if there was a cheaper alternative...
>>
>> Does anyone on the group have any ideas?
>>
>> I was thinking I could use a 8 ft. length of copper pipe and attach
>> the ground wire with a metal hose clamp. Would this work?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Victor Trucco
>> KD6PTO
J W Schermerhorn
OK,solder and clamp it. Better yet,weld or braze and clamp it. I wear
suspenders and a belt!
BTW Jim,do you think it's too late to implement your signature line? I
think it will really screw up the New Years reservations. Someone should
tell Dick Clark about this before it's too late! :-)
JPGRIFF
become distorted as you try to hammer it into the ground. A ground rod is
usually a copper jacketed steel rod. The best rods are of a brass/copper mix
and won't corrode as quickly as plain copper.
Try the electrical dept at your local Home Depot or similar dealer. The
ground rods are of a better quality and considerably cheaper than RS.
I don't remember exactly how much I paid for it but was around $10.
John
Victor L. Trucco wrote in message <36cb9c1...@news.teleport.com>...
Harvey W. Harbicht (http://come.to/stupidlaratricks)
> >to wondering if there was a cheaper alternative...
> Yes. The trick is driving the pipe into the ground without bending or
> mangleing it. 73
A trick that works (although slowly, messily and only in warm weather) is
to connect a garden hose fitting on the end of the pipe. Screw on the
hose, hold the pipe upright and turn on the water. Move the pipe up and
down banging it deeper and deeper into the mud as it forms. In about a
zillion years (depending on your ground conditions) the pipe will be as
deep as you want it. Then cut off the hose fitting and put your
groundwire connection on. Supposingly guys have just screwed on another
pipe when the first one was down enough and ended up with 16 foot
groundrods or even 24 foot rods.
Here's another one I've heard about. I don't know how this works but
theorically it should be better. I dunno. The idea is to get that pipe as
deep as possible underground... so put it through your basement floor.
just watch out for gaspipes and such. You have to seal well around it to
prevent seepage when it rains.
Groundrod effectiveness depends on soil conditions. To put things in
perspective, a guy that lives next to a salt marsh can get away with a 3-
foot rod and a guy that lives in the desert might NEVER get the rod deep
enough. That's the theory anyway.
--
... Harvey W. Harbicht - hhar...@execpc.com
... Signature file at: http://www.execpc.com/~hharbich/siggy.htm
Victor L. Trucco
Victor Trucco
KD6PTO
Mike Saltmarsh
(Harvey W. Harbicht (http://come.to/stupidlaratricks)) wrote:
> Groundrod effectiveness depends on soil conditions. To put things in
> perspective, a guy that lives next to a salt marsh can get away with a 3-
> foot rod and a guy that lives in the desert might NEVER get the rod deep
> enough. That's the theory anyway.
OK, so you're saying it's good to live next to me, but what if the
Saltmarsh is in the desert? ;-)
(not passing up *that* one)
Mike
--
Michael Saltmarsh - Technical Staff Engineer
Motorola SCG Product Analysis Lab
5005 E. McDowell Rd, M/S B132, Phoenix, AZ 85008
(602) 244-7017
Harvey W. Harbicht (http://come.to/stupidlaratricks)
r27...@email.sps.mot.com says...
> In article <7aj058$k...@newsops.execpc.com>, hhar...@NOSPAMexecpc.com
> (Harvey W. Harbicht (http://come.to/stupidlaratricks)) wrote:
> > Groundrod effectiveness depends on soil conditions. To put things in
> > perspective, a guy that lives next to a salt marsh can get away with a 3-
> > foot rod and a guy that lives in the desert might NEVER get the rod deep
> > enough. That's the theory anyway.
>
> OK, so you're saying it's good to live next to me, but what if the
> Saltmarsh is in the desert? ;-)
In that case you'd need a left-handed groundrod with special wiring.
Plans available for only $99.99
>
> (not passing up *that* one)
> Mike
>
>
--
RODWALL
>
> As I was shelling out $17.00 for a Radio Shack 8 ft. ground rod, I got
> to wondering if there was a cheaper alternative...
>
>
> I was thinking I could use a 8 ft. length of copper pipe and attach
> the ground wire with a metal hose clamp. Would this work?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Victor Trucco
> KD6PTO
to your metal pipes and this should work well as the usually have a huge
ground system! Do not use gas mains!!!
My dad told me that in poor conductivity soils you can drive a
steel pipe into the ground then pull it up and empty the soil out,
re-insert it the pour a saline mixture down it to increase the
conductivity.
Bury a grid of copper wire over a large area, this can be better
than a ground stake as it covers more area.
And lastly, I cannot attest to the worthyness of this, use an
artificial ground. MFJ makes one.
73 Rod KB8DNS
Mark A. Kuehl
<<-BCNU->>
RODWALL wrote in message <36D611...@prodigy.net>...
David282
ice-cream salt in the hole before you cover it........It will rust away
eventually but no ground last forever anyway......Take Care David
Michael
OK, the rebar might save you a few bucks, but if a lightning charge has
a choice of a trip to ground or through my house I would prefer it to
find a nice 8A AWG copper wire and at least one nine foot driven copper
clad ground rod. My house and radios are worth a hell of a lot more than
the cost of that copper! Agree with the salt to increase conductivity,
however. But you have to remember to renew it every couple of years.
Michael
Rscoel
are metal inside with copper clad on the outside.
CW
says...
> The ground rods that you get today are not solid copper all the way thru. they
> are metal inside with copper clad on the outside.
>
--
CW
KC7NOD