Re: RF Ground Connections - Wire Type

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <Mddeming-at-aol-dot-com>

In a message dated 7/16/02 10:12:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time, tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
writes:



>
>     Do you think steel braided cable (kind used in ground discharge
> sticks, winches, etc...) would be a good connection.  Theres a lot of
> surface area there, its cheap, but not sure on the material.
>
>     Thanks
>     Dan
>
>
>
>



Hi Dan,
       The resistance of a steel wire is many times that of a similar size
copper one. The higher the resistance of the ground lead the greater the
voltage drop across it. i.e. the "hotter" the base of your coil is. When you
are dealing with thousands of volts, even a tiny fraction of that across your
grounding wire can cause problems. Also a long wire radiates EMI. If a length
of copper wire is too expensive, then your ground line is probably too long.
IMO, keep it short, keep it fat, keep it copper. 
Matt D.