For One and All,

Transforming your simple Ground Rod into a Ground Anchor :
Is It Worth The Work ? - You Decide !

Building a Ground Anchor :
"IF" - You can not Bury your Coax Cable for the full run from the House
to your Antenna.
Starting at your remotely located Ground Rod far away from the House.
Take a 10 Foot piece of 1/2" Copper Pipe and an Copper Elbow.
Cut the Pipe at 18" and Solder the two pieces of Pipe together using
the Elbow.
Dig a 12" Deep 8-10 Foot long Trench from the Ground Rod toward the
House.
Run your Coax Cable through the Pipe.
Put a PL-259 Plug or other Connector on the End of the Coax Cable to
Connect to your Antenna.
Empty Half a Bag of Cat-Litter along the Trench.
Place the Pipe with the Coax Cable in it in the Trench.
Secure the Short Vertical Section of the Pipe to the Ground Rod with
three evenly
spaced Hose Clamps.
TIP - Now is a good time to add any other Ground Radials if you wish.
Empty the other Half a Bag of Cat-Litter along the Trench.
Wet down the bottom of the Trench.
Fill the Trench with Dirt.
Wet down the Dirt returned to the Trench.
NOTE - This much more work then the simple Two Ferrite Snap-On Cores at
each end of the Coax Cable. But it will kill the majority of the RFI
getting to the Antenna.
PLUS - The simple Ground Rod has been transformer into a "Ground
Anchor" with both a Deep Vertical Rod and a Shallow Horizontal Tube
enclosing the Coax Cable.


OK - Everybody get out you old GI Trenching Tool and buy some Copper
Pipe - It's Time to get Anchored ! and Well Grounded Too ! - iane ~ RHF

What does the cat litter do? I've heard to use rock salt.



wrote in message
...
On 22 Dec 2005 10:11:29 -0800, "RHF"
wrote:

For One and All,

Transforming your simple Ground Rod into a Ground Anchor :
Is It Worth The Work ? - You Decide !

Building a Ground Anchor :
"IF" - You can not Bury your Coax Cable for the full run from the House
to your Antenna.
Starting at your remotely located Ground Rod far away from the House.
Take a 10 Foot piece of 1/2" Copper Pipe and an Copper Elbow.
Cut the Pipe at 18" and Solder the two pieces of Pipe together using
the Elbow.
Dig a 12" Deep 8-10 Foot long Trench from the Ground Rod toward the
House.
Run your Coax Cable through the Pipe.
Put a PL-259 Plug or other Connector on the End of the Coax Cable to
Connect to your Antenna.
Empty Half a Bag of Cat-Litter along the Trench.
Place the Pipe with the Coax Cable in it in the Trench.
Secure the Short Vertical Section of the Pipe to the Ground Rod with
three evenly
spaced Hose Clamps.
TIP - Now is a good time to add any other Ground Radials if you wish.
Empty the other Half a Bag of Cat-Litter along the Trench.
Wet down the bottom of the Trench.
Fill the Trench with Dirt.
Wet down the Dirt returned to the Trench.
NOTE - This much more work then the simple Two Ferrite Snap-On Cores at
each end of the Coax Cable. But it will kill the majority of the RFI
getting to the Antenna.
PLUS - The simple Ground Rod has been transformer into a "Ground
Anchor" with both a Deep Vertical Rod and a Shallow Horizontal Tube
enclosing the Coax Cable.


OK - Everybody get out you old GI Trenching Tool and buy some Copper
Pipe - It's Time to get Anchored ! and Well Grounded Too ! - iane ~ RHF
.
.
. .
.
Have you done this and does it improve the performance of your
antenna?

RHF wrote:
For One and All,

Transforming your simple Ground Rod into a Ground Anchor :
Is It Worth The Work ? - You Decide !

Building a Ground Anchor :
"IF" - You can not Bury your Coax Cable for the full run from the House
to your Antenna.
Starting at your remotely located Ground Rod far away from the House.
Take a 10 Foot piece of 1/2" Copper Pipe and an Copper Elbow.
Cut the Pipe at 18" and Solder the two pieces of Pipe together using
the Elbow.
Dig a 12" Deep 8-10 Foot long Trench from the Ground Rod toward the
House.
Run your Coax Cable through the Pipe.
Put a PL-259 Plug or other Connector on the End of the Coax Cable to
Connect to your Antenna.
Empty Half a Bag of Cat-Litter along the Trench.
Place the Pipe with the Coax Cable in it in the Trench.
Secure the Short Vertical Section of the Pipe to the Ground Rod with
three evenly
spaced Hose Clamps.
TIP - Now is a good time to add any other Ground Radials if you wish.
Empty the other Half a Bag of Cat-Litter along the Trench.
Wet down the bottom of the Trench.
Fill the Trench with Dirt.
Wet down the Dirt returned to the Trench.
NOTE - This much more work then the simple Two Ferrite Snap-On Cores at
each end of the Coax Cable. But it will kill the majority of the RFI
getting to the Antenna.
PLUS - The simple Ground Rod has been transformer into a "Ground
Anchor" with both a Deep Vertical Rod and a Shallow Horizontal Tube
enclosing the Coax Cable.


OK - Everybody get out you old GI Trenching Tool and buy some Copper
Pipe - It's Time to get Anchored ! and Well Grounded Too ! - iane ~ RHF
.
.
. .
.
-------------------------------------------------
By placing the coax inside of a copper tubepipe you have in effect
created a triax
cable. Triax can (as in might or maybe) solve certain hard to control
RFI engress issues.

I doubt the wisdom of bending coax in a tight 90 degree angle.
I have seen coax fail with such tight bends.

What type kitty litter are you sugesting? The clumping kind has a water
absorbing,
clay, Bentonite?(sorry Yoder) that is great for pakcing in around
ground rods. The
other type is just baked clay and not much better then sand.

I can say that a whole house ground ring that completly surrounds your
home, with
all incoming cables well bonded greatly reduces the noise floor on some
bands. And
oddly improves some weak signal reception. I am still trying to
understand how I can
pick up a TIS staton some 20 miles away only after I added the ground
ring.

As far as digging such a ditch with a GI trenching tool, forget it. An
electrician
frined had a ditch witch that he had rented for a big job that took a
lot less time
then he had thought. So he stopped by and ditched my entire perimeter
in a couple
of hours. the thought of doing it by hand mankes me want to cry.

Terry

wrote in message
By placing the coax inside of a copper tubepipe you have in effect
created a triax
cable. Triax can (as in might or maybe) solve certain hard to control
RFI engress issues.

I think the ARRL Handbook suggests running coax into the building through a
3-4" diameter tube filled with steel wool as another way of suppressing
coupling along the outside of the shield from inside to outside and thence
to the antenna.

Coiling the co-ax with several turns at the building entrance also helps and
is the common technique at the base of the G5RV balanced feedline to choke
off coupling to the outside of the shield.

Tom

GYT wrote:

What does the cat litter do? I've heard to use rock salt.

It attracts cats from miles around. They maintain the ground rod's
conductivity by replenishing the required moisture AND reduce the
coaxial cable munching rodent population at the same time.

It's a little known fact that coax is STILL rated in ravenous Rodent
resistance. A 50 OHM (Outdoors Hungry Mice) Impedance cable is very common.








mike.

Maybe I should put tuna fish on the radiating element of my antenna and kick
in the 1500 watt amplifier... Here kitty kitty....

GYT wrote:
What does the cat litter do? I've heard to use rock salt.
---------------------------------
Kitty liter is made from clay.

There are 2 types of kitty liter, the common plain baked clay, and the
more
expensive clumping type. The clumping type has a odd clay (Bentonite)
that
absorbs water, swells and this clay is often used to line farm ponds to
seal
against the water draining into the soil.

Even the normal, non clumping, type holds water very well reducing the
resistance of the ground "rod" to the adjacent soil.

I have had much better luck with epsom salt. Less corosive, and less
toxic
to the lawn. Table salt is a killer on most grass.

People also like Coper Sulate, but I have read several studies by
companies
like PolyPhaser where they compared common soil treatments for
effectiveness,
cost, toxicity etc. The minimal difference between the (fairly)
nontoxic epsom salt
and the very toxic coper sulfate was shown toi be very minimal. Here
in KY if you
are caught using copper sulfate you will face serious fines.

Regardless of what type chemical, table salt, epsom salt, or copper
sulfate,
you use, you have to replace them as they leach form the soil.

Terry

DX Savant,

Yes - I have one of these "Ground Anchors" as described
down the hill at about 75 Feet from the side of the house.
Currently the Inverted "L" Wire Antenna Element is a 30
Feet Vertical-Up-Leg and 70 Foot Horizontal-Out-Arm;
going from North-East to South-West.

IMHO - For Noise Reduction here - It works about as well as
the Two Snap-On Ferrite Cores at each end of the Coax Cable.

I did it more for 'additional' Lighning Protection :
+ 75 Feet Away from the House
+ Ground Rod
+ Shape 90* Bend
+ One Foot Under-Ground Metal Tube


hope that helps - iane ~ RHF

GYT,

The Theory Goes - The Cat Litter (Kitty Litter) absorbs Moisture
and holds the Moisture around the Ground Rod / Tube Area.
This improves the Ground Conductivity and the effectiveness
of the Ground System. (In Theory)

READ - Great Ground with Kitten Litter [ Bentonite ]
- by Guy Atkins on HCDX - August 10, 2000
http://www.hard-core-dx.com/nordicdx...bentonite.html
Bentonite is great for getting an excellent conductive ground.

"GROUND ROD SOIL"
My General Recommendation for Ground Rod Soil is to take
the Original Soil from the Ground Rod Hole or Trench and
create a "50 / 50 Mixture" of original Soil (50%) and the
other (50%) made up of these parts of 1/2 "Bentonite" (clay
kitty litter); 1/3 Epson Salt; and 1/6 Copper Sulfate works
well 'in-the-ground' around ground rod. Then Repeatly Water
this down and 'tamp-it-down' lightly over the next few days.

hope this helps - iane ~ RHF

Terry R2000SW,

I would agree that cost/value and effectiveness wise
that EPSOM Salt "Magnesium Sulfate" is the most
commonly available and least toxic to use.

Most local DrugsStores and the National Chains carry Epsom Salt
in Four Pound (4 Lbs.) in Half Gallon Waxcard Milk Boxes
http://herbalremedies.com/epsom-salt-4lbs.html
http://a1468.g.akamai.net/f/1468/580.../80249/300.jpg

http://www.walgreens.com/store/produ...&id=prod379057


hope this helps - iane ~ RHF