Fred Flinstone
Guest
0 post
25-Jun-2008
12:41 AM
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The subject says it all. I live in the Missouri Ozarks. On my property, if you dig into the ground, at best, you will be able to reach a depth of 3 or 4 feet before you hit solid bedrock! At other parts of my property, the bedrock is exposed. The only way I can drive an entire ground rod into the ground is at about a 45 degree angle. Is this sufficient? If not, what do I do?
There is a flood control burm at the upper portion of my property. That burm is about 6 feet tall. What if I drive the rod into the top of that burm?
Any advice would be appreciated.
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Gerry
Moderator
10 post s
26-Jun-2008
2:03 PM
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I can only drive a grounding rod down 4ft due to very hard clay - so I can understnad your dilemma. You might want to try attaching your ground to the electrical ground in your home - your electrical service must have a suitable ground somehow. Another way to 'ground' the antenna is to lay out radial ground wires sitting on top of the ground - all you need is a conductive plane - some people even use chicken wire. Check out the Web for ideas.
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gronsk
8 post s
13-Jul-2008
1:59 PM
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Gerry,
Would you consider engineering, manufacturing, and selling a suitable ground system for use with your Procaster transmitter? Information Station Specialists (www.theradiosource.com) have one for sale that easily ships and unfolds for what appears to be really straight forward installation. Simple modifications make it suitable for the entire Medium Wave spectrum (530 to 1700 Khz). I emailed them for cost information and they were really nice, helpful folks. I can't recall the price right now.
gronsk
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LPRguy
8 post s
18-Jul-2008
1:20 PM
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I put a collection of grounding info on my blog here: Well-Grounded Broadcaster Also some cautionary info about inadvertantly creating an off-center fed dipole :-) Check the ground conductivity chart on my blog for your area to see if attempting an earth ground is even worth the trouble. Anything massive, metal and not part of a power grid or fire protection system is great - fence, hand rails, carport frame, etc. ----------
You might also enjoy lowpowerradio.blogspot.com
Last Edited on 18-Jul-2008 1:25 PM
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gronsk
9 post s
18-Jul-2008
8:02 PM
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Thanks LPRguy. I have read the ground information on your page and it was very helpful (actually I've read it through on a number of occasions trying to learn about rf grounds). I do have very good ground conductivity in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area (at least according to the FCC conductivity chart). I bought a roll of chicken wire to experiment with and to be able to move around in different locations in my yard. Kyle Drake's Low Power AM Handbook suggests a 5' x 5' square grid under the transmitter, so I think I'll start there and see what happens. I'll post the results here. Thanks again!
gronsk
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gronsk
10 post s
21-Jul-2008
10:48 AM
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Would adding a capacitance hat to my Procaster void the FCC Certification? (I suspect that this would be true) If I understand the function of a capacitance hat, they cause more of the radiated signal to exit from the top of the antenna as opposed to the base, which would be a desirable characteristic for my installation.
Thanks!
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HBN_Bill
2 post s
21-Jul-2008
4:36 PM
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I'd be interested in your results from the chicken wire experiment. Bill ----------
HobbyBroadcaster.net
The Reference for legal, low power Part 15 Radio Broadcasting
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gronsk
15 post s
31-Jul-2008
5:38 PM
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Just an update on the chicken wire ground experiments. I have decided to purchase a radial ground system from Carl Van Orden. Carl makes and sells an antenna/ground system for the SSTran AMT3000 (you can link to Carl's site from the SSTran AMT3000 site). He has a radial system with 25-10 foot radials that should work very well in my application. I may still try the chicken wire just to experiment and see how this works. If I do that, I'll let you all know. gronsk
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