Did you ever consider cad welding your ground loops?? I used to build cell sites up and talk about grounding systems. We used to use #2 solid tinned wire as per specs of the engineers of Crown Castle the tower owners. Everything we did outside in the compound was cadwelded. Great video sir..when I seen your video on grounding, man how much I miss it. Glad to see you going that extra bit which is only going to help you out in the long run. Real nice job!!!!!

Excellent discussion that accompanied your grounding rods. Thanks!

@HamHomestead

3 жыл бұрын

You bet!

This all looks great if you live on dirt. Where i live we have 6-10 of topsoil and then solid rock

Great video provided by years of practical experience. Noting better.

@HamHomestead

3 жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it!

Sounds like you are familiar with R56 and Harger Ultraweld. Damn good grounding job!

Thank you for sharing your experience with installing grounding systems. It is good to learn from someone with practical experience. 73 KI7CDG

@HamHomestead

3 жыл бұрын

You are welcome!

When I used to do cad welding at cell sites we had to cad weld everything . Ground loops around the compound, tower, fences,, ground bus bars on the feed line Bridge, and halo inside the building which was all #2 tin. Solid copper tinned on the outside and gates with braided wire. First thing when I got to the site and getting set up I would grab the mold and take a torch and heat up the mold for a period of time to prevent the mold from blowing up. In the 2 years and hundreds of welds, I never had a issue. That seemed to be the best solution that worked great. I was surprised though the shot would light up with a torch igniter but couldn't set it off with a lighter. Mike Niverville,N.Y.

FWIW in 40 years or so of visiting radio sites I have rarely seen lightning damage, none at all on properly engineered major sites. In my experience the small sites were more vulnerable to issues with landlines when struck. Interesting to see the products used across the Atlantic from me. 73

good job right tools for the job, love that ground ring Wayne N6FGV

Back in my younger days, I did some tower installation work. We finished up a 150' tower in the fall before I returned to college. When I returned home for the holidays, my boss told me it had been struck by lighting. He showed me the base of the antenna where the loading coil used to be. There were scorch marks on the core but no sign of any copper.

Nice Electric Hammer ! Now I need one. Lol

Wow. Awesome.

you never have too large of a conduit.

@HamHomestead

3 жыл бұрын

Very True, had I had 5 or 6 inch at a decent price I would have put that in!

Is it correct to connect the ground of the tower or antenna masts to the RF ground of the antenna itself? Or should separate grounding be made for them?

Do you think that a grounded copper buss bar with bulkhead fittings located in your field junction box would add another level of lightning protection?

Jack, What do you do for controller surge suppression? Antenna Switches, rotators, etc? DXE and polyphaser have a rotator surge suppressor that looks like it might work.

@HamHomestead

3 жыл бұрын

I actually bought the DXE suppressors for the rotators and control lines in the new shack.

@HamRadioOperator

3 жыл бұрын

Ham Homestead ; I’m thinking of doing the same. Thanks!

Have you ever tried lubricant when doing pulls? I have used it pulling electrical lines. Great video as always! KE8PKO 73!

@HamHomestead

3 жыл бұрын

Yes I have, just decided this one we could go without it. Had I added anymore to that bundle we would have needed it though.

Can't wait to see your tower take a hit. See if all your preps were worth it

Well planned station! so good it is pro! Look at sum pro stations are a joke. Well for us radio stations with wire antennas and no towers and on tight budget and rent/ move a lot how douse one ground a station? I know a lighting ground for a wire antenna is a bit on the spendy side ,and one can not all ways ground to the building ground for a singel point ground what is one to do? If one removes feed line from radio room for lighting thare can be a lot of static charge that can damige a radio so how doues one ground a stations agensted static charge? I can not find a solution.

@HamHomestead

3 жыл бұрын

Will try and answer your question on a short video I am about to post.