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Grounding


I want to tell you guys how happy I am with my current RF ground.
It has surpassed my hopes already, and I am nowhere near
completed with it's development.

For grounding the lab I am using 14" wide aluminum flashing
from an old rolled capacitor that I blew years ago. I unrolled
the lightly oiled material and taped it down to the bare concrete
floor with duct tape. It lies flat, does not trip or catch toes
and cables and allows super easy and quick connections.

The actual salt water sump ground that the flat strap runs into
is still a little light or "cheesy" as slang in these parts would
call it. It must be watered prior to firing. This will soon
change as I excavate the sump out and sink a heavy brass pressure
cylinder scavenged from a naval vessel into the hole. By drilling
holes and/or removing fittings into the side of the tank, then
soldering a heavy copper feed pipe to the top, I will be able to
pour salt into the tank beneath well below the ground, then
gently pressurize with a garden hose fitted to the top. Even
without added water and salt, the buried brass tank alone should
provide adequate RF grounding for most of my light coil work.
Given the location of the sump, deep in moist clay (albeit very
rocky clay), it should perform very well dry (without added or
injected water).

This sump is only 15 feet from the base of the secondary coil,
yet I can see a clear difference in the coil performance when I
switch the ground lead over from the smooth aluminum flashing to
a one inch wide braided tinned copper strap connected to the sump
at the same location. Most of the time I use the braided strap to
ground the core of the pig.

Richard Quick

... If all else fails... Throw another megavolt across it!
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12