[kwlug-disc] Grounding for antenna

[John Johnson]

On 2014-06-13 23:27, Paul Gallaway wrote:
> In this area it could range from very easy to very difficult to do depending on the soil type in your yard.
The type of soil in the years affects more than just the effort required 
to pound ground rod into the soil.

Please recall that my contribution in this thread, a few others, are 
based on experiences in repairing telephone systems damaged by lightning 
induced surge voltages.

One field repair involved rebuilding a 19" rack mounted subscriber 
carrier terminal of which the rack itself was the only piece left from 
the original.

This terminal was located in a rural, forested area near Arnprior, 
Ontario, south of Hwy 17.

My recall of conversations at the time (~1978) are hazy but follows is 
the best as I can do without notes.

I think that before I left Guelph with a car full of repair parts, a 
senior engineer told me that the customer (Bell Canada) had been 
informed that the soil in that area did not provide a good ground. And 
that poor grounding would leave the equipment prone to lightning damage.

On site, I asked Bell Canada field technicians about measures they had 
used with respect to lightning protection and grounding. I was informed 
that Ontario Hydro, too, had trouble with grounding their distribution 
towers. Ontario Hydro went to the trouble of sinking large screens of 
metal mesh, weighed down with rocks, to the bottom of nearby lakes. This 
was an effort to get a "good ground". These screens were cabled to the 
nearby distribution towers.

Of note: As it was summer with daylight available well into into the 
evening and because there was nothing else to do I completed the repair 
on the day I arrived on-site. Testing of the rebuilt system was to 
follow the next day but was delayed due to a thunderstorm and tornado. 
Bell Canada crews were called out to help with storm damage and were 
unavailable to assist me in testing until my third day on site.

YMWV

jsquared


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