SEMO Amateur Radio Club
P. O. Box 98
Jackson. Mo 63755
August, 2007
Meetings:
The Southeast Missouri Amateur Radio Club, WØQMF, meets the first Monday of every month at 7:00 PM (Ragchew starts around 6:30 PM) Meetings are in the Emergency Preparedness County Office Building, On the Courthouse Square in Jackson, Mo
Next Meeting Date
The next business meeting will be held August 6th, 2007 at 7:00 PM in the basement of the Cape Girardeau County Office Building.
ARRL Volunteer Examinations
ARRL VE testing sessions are held after each monthly meeting for those interested in obtaining or upgrading an Amateur Radio License.
The fee for testing is $14.00 for all test elements.
Willie Sandin, NØMGJ President sandineng@charter.net
John Frye, WJØU 1st VP jgfrye@showme.net
Ernie Chiles, WØRMS 1st VP chiles@showme.net
John Clark, WØAVQ Secretary w0avq89@gmail.com
Irma Frye, NØJPJ Treasurer jgfrye@showme.net
Joe Lorberg, WAØZNI Trustee lorbergco@sbcglobal.net
Upcoming Events
St. Charles Hamfest August 29, 2007 St Charles, Mo American Legion Hall http://www.wb0hsi.org
Area Nets
3905 Net Sunday, 9:30 AM 3.905 MHz
SEMO Net Daily, 7:00 PM 146.685 MHz (PL 100.0 Hz)
SEMO 440 Net Daily, 6:30 PM 444.2 MHz
East Ozark ARC Net Monday, 8:00 PM 147.030 MHz
Ste Genevieve Radio Club Tuesday, 8:00 PM 146.625 MHz
Get 'Em Up And Off To Work Net Mon - Sat 7:30 AM 146.850 MHz (PL 88.5 Hz)

These are all of the area nets that I am SURE about. If there are others (and I know that there are) please let me know at newsletter@semoarc.org and I will include it. All I am worried about is that it is a regularly scheduled (daily, weekly, monthly) net accessible to the local area hams.
Birthdays
Stephanie Fallin (KCØVYF XYL) Aug 23
Steve Hay, KD7EV Aug 25
Dave Golightly, KCØLIW Aug 25
Anniversaries
Joe, NØCCE, and Helen Marsh August 26, 1956
If you or the XYL have a birthday or anniversary, let me know. The ones I have are based on three year old records
July 2007 Minutes
The July meeting of the SEMOARC was called to order by President Willie Sandin, NØMGJ. The minutes of the June meeting were read by Secretary John Clark, WØAVQ, and approved as read. The Treasurers report given by Treasurer Irma Frye, NØJPJ gave a balance of 1511.70 after expenses
Special Event
Ernie Chiles WØRMS gave a report on the Special Event Station. there were 40 people in attendance. so far there have been 88 QSL cards sent out. The Museum director was impressed by the turnout also. The lower 48 states were worked for 467 contacts with 3 stations on the air. There was talk of making annual event and combining with old Wappapello Picnic and moving to fall and/or closer to Veterans day
Dick Knaupp, EOC Director was in attendance
Field Day
John Clark gave the Field Day report. Without any notification, Willie and he decided that due to the bonuses that accrue, we would run 5 watts QRP and on battery power. John put up a 160 Meter loop antenna fed with twinlead and made 106 CW and 4 PSK contacts, with 73 Phone contacts made from the other radio so total points including bonuses were 1485 points which was far and away more than any total in my memory. The bulk of the contacts were made by John and Charlie Schroeder, KCØDZD. As an aside, Charlie hadn't been notified of the power levels and upon noticing almost little apparent power output was sure that something must have been broken and told John, who told him of the power level and the reasons.
RACES Coordinator still tabled
New Business
Supposed to be a program for the August meeting on DX
Pro rated dues were temporarily authorized for new members by a motion by Steve Hay, KD7EV and seconded by Bob Seabaugh, KAØQCK and passed.
The June Earthquake drill could have been handled better (from the State side) but did go off without too many problems from the SEMOARC side. Generalities were discussed pertaining to future disaster drills, weather emergencies, and such. Possibility of a Weather spotter class in the future.
Motion to adjourn by John Frye, WJØU and seconded by Ernie Chiles, WØRMS and adjourned at about 7:45 PM
Submitted by Secretary John Clark, WØAVQ
Protect Your Ham Radio Brains
Vito Chiarappa (W6TH) on July 22, 2007
Who wouldn't want to be sharp as a tack? As we get older, many of us feel we'll lose that edge and maybe even lose our independence.
Fortunately, there's a lot we can do to help our brains stay sharp as we age.
Our brain changes; it is true that our cognitive skills, our ability to learn, remember and reason...slow somewhat as we get older.
We may find it difficult to learn a new skill, such as using a computer, able to copy the Morse code. This decline are caused by changes that occur naturally in the brain and are nothing to be alarmed about, but just because such changes are normal doesn't mean that there's nothing we can do to delay or minimize them.
Give your brain a workout as there's a lot of information showing that we can keep our brains fit as we get older.
Many studies show the benefits of challenging your brain as you get older. Keep your brain fit by following these tips.
Challenge yourself by working on your Morse code, by building radio kits, keep trying the harder ones like Morse code.
Don't shut yourself off; lack of social ties is a risk factor for cognitive decline. Joining a ham radio club or a civic or social group can be of help.
Exercise your body, being physically active is of real importance, build or experiment with antennas and get outdoors as often as you can.
And don't forget to eat well, you may also benefit from taking a multivitamin.
May try DX as a mental challenge, but may raise your blood pressure with those pileups.
73, and stay healthy!
September Is National Preparedness Month:
from The ARRL Letter, Vol 26, No 31 Website: http://www.arrl.org/ on August 3, 2007
September is National Preparedness Month and Amateur Radio operators are joining a wide variety of national, state and local organizations, including the US Department of Homeland Security, in educating the public about preparing for emergencies. When unexpected natural or man-made emergencies occur, our greatest individual defense is preparedness. Getting an emergency supply kit, making an emergency plan, and identifying preparedness and response resources within our communities are several things we can do to prepare ourselves. This nationwide effort is to encourage individuals and families to take simple steps to prepare for emergencies in their homes, businesses and schools. Free preparedness resources are just a click away in English http://www.ready.gov/ and Spanish http://www.listo.gov/.
Ham Radio Discussion Broadcast:
from KE0VH on August 2, 2007
Jack E. Roland, KEØVH, also the Chief Engineer for the Entercom Denver Radio stations will be the guest of host Carl Chambers, of the public affairs program "Colorado Today" on stations KOSI, 101.1FM, KQMT, 99.5FM, KALC, 105.9 FM, and KEZW, 1430 AM in Denver.

Jack and Carl will be discussing the fun, practicality, and Emergency response uses of Amateur Radio. Jack will also be doing a live on air IRLP demonstration with K4KR, Kenny Rogers in Chattanooga Tennessee via the WA2YZT Denver Repeater and the W4YI Repeater in Chattanooga. It airs Sunday August 12th between 7 and 8am Mountain time on KQMT, KALC, and KEZW, and 8-9am on KOSI. All stations stream audio on the internet on their websites so anyone can listen in.

Amateur Radio Now Legal in all Texas Public Schools

In what can only be termed a huge victory for the future of Amateur Radio in Texas, Governor Rick Perry signed Senate Bill 11 (SB11) into law in June. Among many disaster response specifications, the new law contains two important Amateur Radio-related provisions: State employees who are ham radio operators may to take up to 10 days of paid leave while participating in a disaster response or training exercise, and Amateur Radio is now allowed in all Texas public schools.

A single sentence in Article 2 of SB11 modifies the legal definition of a banned paging device by adding the following ham radio exception: "The term does not include an Amateur Radio under the control of an operator who holds an Amateur Radio Station License issued by the Federal Communications Commission."

Texas is the first state to enact such a sweeping change allowing school-based ham radio programs statewide. It is hoped that similar measures will be enacted in other states. Local clubs in Texas are urged to contact their school boards and encourage them to bring school policies regarding student possession of RF devices into compliance with the new law.

A decades-old provision in the Texas Education Code (Section 37.082) long ago granted Texas schools blanket authority to ban student possession of all RF devices, including ham radios. The old law was originally enacted with the best of intentions, but had unintended negative consequences both for student safety and for the cause of Amateur Radio. More than 20 years ago Texas -- like many states at the time -- passed a law granting schools sweeping authority to ban student possession of "paging devices." The original intent of the law was to prevent on-campus drug dealers from communicating with one another using now-obsolete numeric pagers. Cut off their communication, the logic went, and drugs on campus would be seriously curtailed.

The old law broadly defined a prohibited "paging device" as any RF device which had the ability to vibrate, emit a sound, display a message, or in any way convey a communication to the possessor. There was no exception for school-based Amateur Radio programs or clubs. Practically all Texas schools immediately exercised their newly granted right by banning all RF devices to the maximum extent allowed by law -- and sometimes to a greater extent than the law allowed.

The result of the old law was that in most Texas schools, starting a ham radio club was simply out of the question. Existing ham radio programs were even removed from some San Antonio area schools as a direct result of the old law.

Although schools can still have basic rules of classroom decorum to insure that ham radio activities do not disturb academic instruction, SB 11 effectively puts ham radio programs on the same legal footing with all other student-initiated clubs and activities. Texas school teachers are now free to start ham radio programs. Students are now free to form school-based ham radio clubs. Individual students who have a ham license are even legally allowed to possess ham radios at school regardless of whether a club exists yet. SB11 takes effect on September 1. -- James Alderman, KF5WT

Amateurs Play Key Role in Tennessee Earthquake Exercise

Almost 100 radio amateurs participated in TNCAT '07, the largest and most comprehensive exercise ever conducted by the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA). The exercise, conducted over a 3 day period from June 19-21, was based on a presumed 7.7 magnitude earthquake along the New Madrid Seismic Zone.

TEMA's Operations Chief Hank Koebler, Jr, N3ORX, said he was very impressed with the response from the amateur community. "I anticipated a top-notch performance from them, but they exceeded those expectations by far."

Throughout the exercise, ARES and MARS continued to provide the bulk of the emergency communications. At the State Emergency Operations Center in Nashville, ARES and MARS operators were set up side-by-side to handle the communications load -- ARES handled voice on VHF/UHF and HF links into the disaster area, while MARS handled all Winlink traffic via HF. In the affected counties in West Tennessee, ARES operators performed damage assessments, provided the sole means of communications for the county Emergency Operations Centers and were the communications workhorses for TEMA's Regional Center in Jackson, Tennessee.
The Tech Bench Elmers Amateur Radio Society
Club Station Callsign KF6GDJ
Our Web Page is located at: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/2775/

Grounding Systems for Amateur Radio Stations
By: John Wendt WA6BFH
There is quite a bit of talk these days between Amateur (Ham) Radio operators about the desirability for "good grounding systems" for their home radio stations. I can tell you honestly that this was not so fervently discussed on the radio in earlier decades. My suspicion for this is that there was a better understanding in earlier times, before the advent of our rapid increase in new operators, of the conditions under which a "grounding system" would do some good. Lets look at this carefully and critically so that we can assess the desirability of a grounding system for our radio stations.

Safety Grounds vs. Radio Frequency (RF) Grounds

First of all realize that there are two discreet types of ground systems and reasons why a Ham might desire to provide a "station ground". These are for the most part mutually exclusive! In other words one does one job for which it is specifically designed, and one does a different job. You must design your grounding system with this in mind, or one function may inhibit or nullify the other!

One of these grounding systems is what I will generally describe as a "safety ground". This safety ground is installed to reduce the risk of electrocution or radio equipment damage by short circuited "power mains", or from lightening strikes to the antenna or "feedline" system. A safety grounding system is certainly a good Ham Radio "engineering practice", although it is usually considered as of secondary importance to an "RF ground"! In portions of our country where dramatic lightening storms are common this preference is probably reversed. I can tell you that even in the portion of Southern California that I live in, lightening strikes from annual spring storms, or even the thought of accidental "short circuit" electrocution are enough of a concern that I have a safety ground system for my station. I have designed it though to operate in conjunction with the RF grounding system I use! Lets talk about the considerations of properly designing an RF grounding system. Through the course of this discussion I will explain how an RF ground can be utilized as a safety ground, and also that a safety ground should never be used as an RF ground!

The RF or Radio Frequency Grounding System

A popular misconception is that all radio antenna systems should be grounded to enhance their radio performance. If grounding these antennas was for the purpose of safety, as I have clarified in the earlier paragraphs, this might be true. To think though that grounding an antenna will automatically make it a better communications device is completely wrong! To appreciate this we must think in terms of "radio frequency wavelength", or fractions of wavelength at 1/4 wavelength increments. On certain lower frequency longer wavelength bands an RF ground is not only a reasonable consideration but, it is fundamental to getting the best communications performance from your radio station. At other higher frequency and shorter "wavelength bands" however, RF grounds are either superfluous, or even harmful to overall communications performance! Lets look at this carefully as illustrated in typical and practical scenarios. Keep in mind the concept of thinking about the physical length of the "grounding conductor" in relationship to its comparative "wavelength dimension"!

The Practical Station Ground

Living in a typical single story ranch style home my choices and availability for a good RF ground installation are relatively simple. The first "ground rod" of my grounding system is within 4 feet 2 inches or 1.27 meters of my station equipment. This 50 inch dimension is the entire or total length of the conductor to this first grounding rod. From this first 10 foot deep ground rod, a # 6 AWG. (American Wire Gauge) bare copper wire is buried and runs under ground in a one foot deep trench to a second 10 foot long rod about 15 feet distant. This second rod is then connected to a very elaborately designed grounding system at the base of my antenna tower's foundation. The length of this conductor between the second ground rod and the tower base is 16 feet. The entirety of these ground rods, and the interconnecting conductors, are buried at about 12 inches deep. Take a look at Figure 1 to see this system drawn to scale.

When you look over this drawing you might think, gee if he says its important to keep the ground conductor as short as possible, why does he have almost 5 meters (15.5 feet) of separation between ground rods. He could have even run a wire from ground rod number 1, straight to the tower base! Well believe me, if I could have, I would have! The combined 15 and 16 foot dimensions surround the perimeter of a building, so that I was forced to take this longer circuitous route! This really though isn’t such a bad happenstance!

Having the ground rods this far apart is actually a desirable feature. What is being achieved by this system is to make a "large surface contact area" to earth ground. It also functions to reduce "ground loops" as well as is possible. Even though I can’t prevent all ground loop conditions, I can keep them manageable! I had thought that in my original design that I might also place 10 foot deep rods at the points where asterisks are shown. After testing the system on the MF (Medium Frequency) and HF (High Frequency) wave-length bands, I found these additional rods to be unnecessary.

Ground Loops (and the worst case scenario)

Ground loops are the major concern and worry to be dealt with as you lay out an RF ground system! Lets lay out a worst possible case scenario of what would be a terrible way to ground a 20 meter (and all harmonically related bands) home station.

Lets say that our 20 meter Ham has his "Ham Shack" in approximately the middle of his house, up on the second story of the house. He uses a nice low resistance and low inductance flat braided strap (lets let him do at least one thing right), which runs from his 1500 Watt amplifier to a 2 foot deep ground rod in his front yard. This braided conductor runs between the floor of the second story and the ceiling of the lower story. It then runs down the outside of his stucco covered home to the ground rod. Its total length is 33 feet long from the amplifier to the ground rod.

Fifty feet (15.24 meters) of coaxial cable goes up between the walls of the second story, is draped over to the top of his tower, and terminates at his TH6DXX beam on this 65 foot tall tower. Lets break down these dimensions in terms of wavelength, and even look at them as they may appear to form a "current loop"!

Our rueful Ham friend is using a ground conductor that is almost exactly one half wavelength long and is raised in the air by the buildings structure. Even if this length were reduced to about a quarter wavelength, it would still very nicely couple energy into other wiring in the house, and also the wire mesh beneath the stucco walls. This other wiring could be telephone wires, television cabling, and the 110 volt power wiring in the house. His coax cables shield is a nice "odd order harmonic" radiator, as it is 3/4 wavelength long! The ungrounded tower is about a half wavelength tall.

This last point about the tower must be viewed carefully. He might want to ground it as an RF consideration, and he might not! Think about it this way. One ground rod is in the front yard at the end of a half wavelength wire. The shield of the coax cable ultimately goes to ground in the back yard at the tower base at an electrical length of about 7 quarter wavelengths (50 + 65 = 115 feet). This makes another sort of odd order harmonic radiator! If you add into this loop circuit the length of the front yard ground rod conductor, the loop circumference becomes 9 quarter wavelengths. Yet another odd order radiator dimension!

My assessment of this Ham's station would inform me that he is throwing away some of the advantage of his beam and the height of his tower because, all of the radiating conductors strung around the house raise the "angle of radiation" considerably higher than it could otherwise be! He is also enhancing the prospects of "audio rectification" to his own and to neighbors telephones. He is also enhancing the possibility of "TVI" to his television, and maybe to the neighbors as well if they all use a cable TV system.

The Absolute Worst Thing To Do

Maybe though this isn’t the worst case scenario? The worst case would be the Ham that tries to use the 3rd wire ground within the 110 volt AC power system that runs though out his house. Then he could really couple RF energy around his house and the neighborhood! Never ever use this 3rd. wire ground as an RF ground!

How Should our Ham have done it

1) His station should be on the ground floor of the house.

2) His low inductance low resistance grounding conductor should have considerably less than a quarter wavelength of total length between his amplifier and the first ground rod.

3) If the soil or other conditions in his yard allowed only short length rods, he should have used several of them all tied in a line, and ultimately connected to a "grounding cage" or rods near the outside of the tower's concrete base.

Important Tip: Don’t install the ground cage within the concrete! One reason is that it is connected to the earth via the high resistance of the concrete. The other reason is that a lightening strike to the tower may well blow the concrete block to bits!

When Should an RF Ground Be Used and When is it a Bad Thing

With the advent of the many new MF/HF/VHF transceivers on the market these days, Hams are flocking to frequency bands on which they have little or no experience. Additionally because of the licensing structure, one of the most popular Ham bands in use is the 10 Meter band. I’m sure also that within the coming years, 6 Meters will become even more popular. On 6 meters at least, RFI is very simply controlled.

On one of these two mentioned bands, and also on most bands above 20 Meters, television interference from harmonic radiation becomes a concern that grounding will not fix. In fact most practical possibilities for grounding systems at a typical residential home, will enhance this TVI (Television Interference) problem!

Think about it this way, the 2nd. Harmonic of the 28 MHz. band falls right at TV channel 2 (2 X 28 = 56 MHz. )! This is the fourth harmonic of the 20 Meter band (4 X 14 = 56 MHz.)! From this description and the other worst case scenarios that I outlined, you may be thinking, so is he saying not to bother with installing a ground system? Well, that’s not at all what I’m saying! I am telling you though that you must appreciate and design your grounding system so that it cannot possibly contribute to either "fundamental frequency" radiation, and also not contribute to the re-radiation of harmonics of these upper HF bands.

The prime methods for accomplishing this are to (1) keep the ground conductor shorter than a quarter wavelength on 10 Meters, which is of course the highest frequency HF band. Next we must, (2) make this conductor be at the lowest AC resistance (impedance) possible! We do this by using large surface area (fat) conductors, and SOLDER all connections. After soldering, seal them from the eroding effects of weather by using electricians tape and silicon sealers. Anti-oxidizing compounds such as "No-Ox", which are available at most electrical suppliers, are a must for any connection of dissimilar metals! A simpler way to deal with this last mentioned concern is to simply use non-alloy baring copper for the entire system. Copper tubing typically used for plumbing meets all of the above requirement perfectly. Don’t use steel or iron pipe for ground rods! Always (3) connect multiple ground rods in a line. This line can bend or zigzag but, it must extend from the nearest to the furthest ground rod or screen in a line. The last physical consideration (4) is to cover as much ground surface area as is practical within the constraints of your yard or acreage. A minimum RF ground system will use at least three 8 foot or longer ground rods. If you can’t sink a rod that long, than you must use many more shorter rods, or bury a splayed out radial system of wires. In this last case you must terminate this wire radial screen within less than a quarter wavelength at 29.7 MHz. (which is 94.5 inches or 2.4 meters).

Thinking conversely, if a grounding system becomes a touchy prospect at the higher bands, might it be a better consideration and benefit at the lower bands such as 160 meters? If you answered this question absolutely, you win a gold star, and Ham of the year award!

On lower frequency bands, both RF noise level, and also "ground wave" signal propagation become an important concern. Just to give you a clue, AM broadcast stations invest huge amounts of money in designing and installing their antenna grounding systems. Of course, we are nearby neighbors, almost kissing cousins you might say of the Broadcast band that ends just below 160 meters! On this band doing everything you can to enhance the signal is preeminent within the stations design. It even becomes easier to install a good grounding system than it is to install good antennas!

Think about it. Even if you could put an antenna that is 260 feet long, 100 feet above the ground, it would still be only .19 wavelengths above the ground. That would be the equivalent of installing a 2 meter antenna at about 15.6 inches above the ground! My 160 meter "Zep" is 48 feet up at its highest point, this equates to .18 wavelengths. This actually places the "high current point", which is main working point of the antenna, at 37 feet. Thirty-seven feet is about .14 wavelengths above the ground at 1.8 MHz. Pretty low, little more than 1/10th of a wavelength! By contrast, a good ground system is easy! Good RF ground systems really come into their own, as far as showing worthwhile value, on the bands below 30 meters!

Lets wrap up these concepts

An RF ground can be used as a safety ground but, a safety ground is often the worst sort of RF ground.

Multiple ground rods provide the most earth area covered, and consequently, the best sort of grounding system.

If soil is so rocky that even hydrologically installed ground rod tubes aren’t possible, a screen or web of wires below the ground surface will work well. Always use metalurgically sound, true copper wire. No alloys! Cover the largest surface area possible.

Tip: These wires can be installed in a radial fashion, by making slits in the earth or lawn with a sidewalk gardening edger. You then stuff bare copper wire in the slits. In this sort of installation wire size can be reduced to save cost. Use large enough wire to provide good physical strength, lets say #16 AWG.. Be certain that it is "soft copper". A good test is to heat the wire with a gas flame, a propane cigarette lighter works great. If the wire is truly soft copper non-alloy wire, it will quickly turn green, then black, and loose all of its tensile strength. Another test would be to bury a piece of this wire for a week or more. When you dig it up, if it shows signs of oxidation or pitting, its not pure copper!

A ground cage surrounding a tower foundation provides a good final terminus point for the grounding system. It also provides for the prospect of "shunt feeding" the tower as a multi-band vertical antenna.

Why use a Ground Cage

For the Ham that is dedicated enough to our avocation to want the best engineered station possible, an antenna tower of considerable height is a must! The best radios in the world will not out perform poorer radios using an efficient antenna!

 If you are going to install a tall tower (at least a half wavelength tall in the center of the HF spectrum) your going to have to dig a deep hole for the towers concrete base. The kind of tower I’m speaking of as a minimum will require at least a 6 foot deep hole that is 3 feet per side. I think its advisable though to install a foundation for a larger tower. You never know, you may someday want a nice 90 or 120 foot tall tower. This sort of tower requires at least a 9 foot deep hole that is 4 or 5 feet square. After such a hole has been dug, putting in a ground cage is simple!

First install the longest feasible ground rod in the center of this hole. Hopefully this rod will be at least 8 feet long. Even if you can’t install a rod this long into the center bottom of the hole, a shorter rod still adds its length to the wire cage that will reside in the hole.

The cage itself is fabricated from #8 AWG. copper wire. You may visualize this cage as 8 lengths of wire that extend upward from the central ground rod, and reside at each corner of the hole, and the four sides of the hole. It is best to keep the wire contiguous however. If you were to section it into individual lengths, its net resistance (or AC impedance) would be higher than if it is kept as a continuous length. I hope that my verbal description will reveal an assembly that extends 17 feet into the ground (assuming a 9 foot deep foundation hole, and 8 foot rod) and covers a large surface area around the sides of the hole.

After this wire assembly is in place, install the towers steel work base frame. Next before filling the hole with concrete, install plastic sheeting over the wire. Now when the hole is filled with concrete, the plastic sheeting will insure that the wire is pressed against the dirt sides of the hole, and not encased by concrete. Two ends of the wire can be left to extend above the top of the hole. These will later be attached to the bottom of the tower.

The rod at the bottom center of the hole also provides a solid anchor, to keep the steel work from "floating" or moving about while the concrete is being poured. To accomplish this use Nylon rope and turnbuckles to tension down the steel frame. Nylon rope is used so that no metal work encased within the concrete is electrically connected to the ground system. High voltage static or lightening will now flow only to dirt earth surrounding the concrete. Raise the steel frame above the dirt bottom of the hole with cement foundation piller blocks. If the ends of the steel frame contact the dirt at any point, they will eventually rust and totally disintegrate!

Let's review the best things to do

1) Always use the shortest and largest surface area conductor feasible. This can be wide metal strap material, or large diameter wire or tubing.

Helpful Tip: I use 1/2 inch diameter copper tubing as my ground conductor between rod #1 and the radios. The "ground bus" at the back of the radio bench is yet another piece of tubing, with short braided cables soldered to it for attachment to the radios, amplifiers, and antenna "Trans-Match". The ground rods themselves are also copper tubing which were hydrologically sunken (this is a technical way of saying, hook up a garden hose to the tube and let the water suck it into the ground). This method will push aside even grapefruit size rocks as it burrows into the ground.

Copper tubing is much less expensive per foot than is large diameter copper wire (I wish I had thought of that when I installed my system, because it's easier to solder as well). It has a larger diameter than most wire which lowers both its impedance and inductance. It can be easily soldered together using plumbing fittings, just as you would install water pipes. If you want to make a real bang up job of things use Silver solder to lower the impedance even more! Seal and weather proof all soldered joints!

2) Use several ground rods, and cover a large surface area. A large surface area is more important than ground rod depth! Longer rods are desirable though when possible. If it is possible, place ground rods in an area that is often irrigated. Wet soil improves soil conductivity, and helps reduce radio frequency noise.

3) Think about and sort out possible ground loops on various wavelength bands. Design your system to avoid ground loops on any band on which you operate.

 Terms you should become convivial with, and use in your conceptual thinking process

Angle of radiation: The term "angle of radiation" and "signal gain" are virtually the same thing. A good antenna that is high in the air, and also isolated from other random radiators provides the lowest radiation angle, and consequently, the furthest signal propagation.

Audio rectification: This is the condition that prevails when transistor and diode circuitry within telephones or other audio devices are within the "near field" of a radio signal. This same sort of diode junction detection can even be observed with the false switching of infrared detector outdoor lighting. In this last example, the RF signals forward bias the lamps switching circuitry.

*Current loop: Any time a wire or assembly of wires form a loop, a current generator is formed. Whenever you impose generated current across a resistance, you produce voltage. In the case of this articles premise, this voltage represents unwanted signal radiation!

Feedline: This term depicts the generic and proper description of conductors that connect an antenna to the radio station. This "feedline" might be either coaxial cable, balanced "Ladder line", or even single conductor line (as in the feed system for a "Windom" antenna, and also "G-line").

Fundamental frequency: The fundamental or prime frequency at which an oscillator or "Exciter" operates. An example might be an oscillator or Exciter operating at 3.5 MHz. (See Harmonic)

Ham: The name by which radio experimenters identified themselves, prior to the implementation of Amateur Radio pursuant to the Federal Radio Bureaus, "Communications Act of 1934".

Harmonic: The multiple of some fundamental frequency. The second harmonic of 3.5 MHz. is 7.0 Mhz., or 2 X 3.5 MHz. = 7.0 MHz.

High current point: Radio frequency currents reverse every half wavelength. The high current point of maximum signal radiation is at the center of a half wavelength antenna. Good engineering practice: Amateur Radio operators are required by law to construct and maintain their radio stations to the best "state of the art" good engineering practice.

Good grounding system: A grounding system that provides the lowest possible resistance or Alternating Current (AC) impedance, has the lowest AC inductance possible, and is designed so as to limit the re-radiation of fundamental or harmonic frequency energy.

Ground bus: A common point connection terminus that embodies the design criterion of a good grounding system.

Grounding conductor: This is the connecting link between the radio station equipment bus, and the nearest point of earth grounding connection.

Ground rod: The term used to describe the simplest device associated with any sort of electrical "earthing" practice.

*Ground loops: Intrinsically the same thing as a Current Loop.

Grounding system: The entirety of a conceived and engineered plan for providing "earthing" perameters for radio or other electrical requirements.

Ground wave: One electrical component of the physics of low frequency radio propagation. In Amateur Radio practices, the 160 band is the only wavelength band that exhibits significant ground wave signal propagation.

Large surface contact area: In the context of this article, this term implies the best "current conductivity" to earth ground. In Alternating Current (AC) circuits (ergo radio) large surface contact provides both low inductance, and low impedance. (See also "Skin Effect")

Near field: The near field of radio frequency energy is that radiated energy within a several wavelengths of an antenna or other radiating source.

Odd order harmonic The direct definition relates to the third, fifth, seventh, ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth multiples of a fundamental signal etc. A readily available example of an odd order harmonic in Amateur Radio practice is the means by which a 441 MHz. signal can be generated from a 147 MHz. source (147 X 3 = 441). Another way of saying this is, the 70 centimeter band falls at the 3rd. Harmonic of the 2 meter Amateur Radio wavelength band. Odd order harmonics are easily propagated in contrast to "Even Order" harmonics which will self cancel.

Power mains The generic description of the primary power distribution source (117 Volt Alternating Current, or 220 VAC etc.)

Radio frequency wavelength: The unit of radio signal measurement that embodies both the legal requirement of Amateur Radio station operation, and also depicts the physics by which radio signals propagate. Radio wavelength is determined by deviding frequency into the velocity by which that signal energy travels. Where V = Velocity or 300,000,000 meters per second, and f = Frequency (of oscillation) of the frequency in use. Example: V f = 300 / 50 MHz. = 6 meters

RF ground: A grounding system that by inference implies the qualities of low impedance, and low inductance.

Safety ground A grounding system that by inference implies only a better electrical path to ground than the person or equipment being protected.

Skin effect: Alternating Currents, such as radio frequencies, flow only on the outside surface of conductors. By inference in this application, larger surface area equates to lower impedance and improved conductivity.

Short circuit: The situation that arises when a person or other conducting object is exposed to an electrical circuit between that circuits source and load. The "short circuiting" object in this case, becomes the interim load.

Shunt feed: In the context of this article, this implies a system for "feeding" radio signal energy into a grounded metal tower, to make that tower function as an antenna.

Soft copper: The term soft copper refers to copper that is not produced with other metal content. In other words, it is just plain copper, not an alloy. Hint: To expand upon the conceptual idea contained within the use of such metals, think about the concept of using other metals of low resistance! Just as a thought teaser, if the cost was not so exorbitant, would using silver plating on antennas or other RF conductors be desirable?

Station ground: A radio station grounding system where both electrical safety precautions as well as radio frequency transmission optimization have been provided.

Trans-match: This is the proper term for a transmitter to antenna system impedance matching coupler. This is often errantly referred to as an "Antenna Tuner". If the word Antenna System Tuner was inserted, the errant quality of the term would be mitigated.

Wavelength bands: A political distinction for allotting and cataloging portions of radio frequency spectrum. This term though embodies the physics by which radio signals propagate. (See: radio frequency wavelength)

Wavelength dimension: This term refers not only to unitary or single units of frequency wavelength such as 10 meters or 2 meters, it more importantly refers to thinking in terms of a dimension length. Example: 10 feet is .28 wavelengths at 28 MHz. (or a bit longer than a 1/4 wavelength).
The formula to calculate this is:
V f = 300 / 28 MHz. = 10.7 meters
10.7 X 39.37 = 421.8 inches
421.8 / 12 = 35.15 feet
10 feet / 35.15 = .28 wavelength
Where V = Velocity of signal propagation, or 300,000,000 meters per second, and 39.37 = 1 meter as measured in inches

This same 10 foot physical length of wire becomes .253 wavelengths (still a bit over a quarter wavelength) at the 12 meter band, .508 wavelengths on the 6 meter band, and 1.46 wavelengths on the 2 meter band. For our purposes in this article, anytime a piece of wire at your station approaches a 1/4 (.25) wavelength or longer, it isn’t a ground conductor anymore! In fact it becomes a "radiating element", or you might say an antenna in its own right. This is bad news for a ground system!

Radiating element: a radiating element is any metallic conductor that is within the "near field" of a radio frequency energy source. This is usually specific length component elements of an antenna. It can be any piece of metal that is a significant percentage of the energizing wavelength frequency. Examples of such unwanted radiating elements might be, rain gutters, wire guy lines, or grounding conductors, any of which would have to be a quarter wavelength or longer at the energizing frequency.

Why You Should Just About NEVER Install an RF Grounding System
Read On, Its a Good Thing By: John Wendt WA6BFH

I swear to the Ether in the heavens above, I have never gotten so many whacky responses to any article I have written, as I have for my article "Grounding Systems for Amateur Radio Stations!

Most Hams it seems just don't get the point, so I will try again. If you have an electrically balanced antenna up in the air for any band above say 10 Megacycles, how are you going to get it connected to ground anyway? A quarter wavelength for 10 MHz. is about 23 feet long. Soooooo, 23 feet away from ground is an infinitely high impedance! At half that distance the AC impedance is in the hundreds of Ohms!

Some say they want to install a ground system as a cure for television interference or TVI. I say, how do you think an RF ground will help this? If you have a nice resonant antenna on 28 MHz, and its up at some decent height in the air. ITS SECOND HARMONIC IS STILL AT 56 MHz., RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF CHANNEL 2 TELEVISION! Rather than putting in a ground system, put a high quality flipping Low Pass Filter on the output of your transmitter! Let the flipping neighbors put a good quality High Pass Filter on the antenna input connections of their TV set, and forget about it!

Now, if you are a 160 Meter fan, well, maybe you should install a good RF ground. So, thats one band, 200 KHz. wide, in 23,471 MHz. of Ham spectrum! In other words .85 of 1% of that spectrum. Our less than one percent of a reason to lend the motivation for installing a good RF ground. Knock yourself out!

Don't get me wrong! A ground system can be a good thing! But, think about why you want to install one, and will it do your station any good? Think!

Ham Radio Is Not Plug and Play And Why Would You Want It To Be
By: John Wendt WA6BFH

One of the most disturbing references I have recently heard about Ham Radio is that it should be plug and play! I have heard this most often on the 2 Meter wavelength band but, also even on 6 Meters. Truly scary! An additional scary thing is also that when I heard this on 2 Meters, it wasn't only from neophyte Technician licensees! Although I'm sure they were licensed since only 1996 or so.

Now the Technician class of license; there is a troublesome corollary. Most Technician licensees I have talked with in the last five or six years have no interest or abilities in any form of technical endeavor. This tends to be true not only of radio electronics but, even simple DC electronics! Even the algebraic constants of Ohms Law to these half decade or so licensed Hams are strangely unknown. This is also true relating to any scientific desire to investigate radio. Why then do we hold this name for what has clearly become the entry level license? If it is for tradition only, its an insult to every Technician licensee that made great achievements and discoveries in the realm of frequencies on the VHF or higher spectrum!

Ham Radio was intended to be an inquisitive hobby where the vagaries of nature that occurred in communication were fun to explore; and gratifying to solve and find answers for. It was the best physical laboratory available to any citizen. Tens of thousands of megacycles of radio frequency spectrum to explore! It was a conceptual realm where the everyday experimenter could cultivate and demonstrate a knowledge of physical science that was as well respectable as any professional radio astronomer could do. This hasn't changed; there is still a lot to learn!

Find out for yourself. Investigate and research names like Grote Reber, Arno Penzias, and John Kraus. They were Ham's, and they made monumental discoveries as Ham's. Look at the history of early investigations into HF communication in the late1940's and '50's. Investigate and note how comparatively little research has been done on VHF, UHF, and SHF since. Add to these names Edwin Armstrong, Randy Runyon, and Philo Farnsworth.

These earlier Hams I mentioned didn't even know the term plug and play. I suspect that if they had had the impression that electronics and radio could be distilled to this level; they would not have come out to play!