Knocking in some grounding rods saves you a lot of money on the Local Gym. You did a great job, Capt. Darren. Looks good and will do the Trick as it should. 👍👍👍
Alternate method my dad (a licensed master electrician) taught me long ago: "wash" the rod into the ground. poke the rod into the ground as far as you can, at least a few inches. Remove the rod and pour in water. Reinsert rod and work up-and-down as far as you can. Remove and pour in more water. Repeat several times, until top of the rod is within an inch or two of ground's surface.. Much easier than pounding with a hammer. Obviously, this won't work if you hit rock -- but then, not much will work in that case. The ground rod we washed in for my crystal radio (I was 6 years old, or thereabouts) went into hard-packed West Tennessee clay soil, and it went in easily; I actually did most of the work, after he showed me how.. I was surprised since I already knew that clay soil was hard to dig in. But by turning it into mud, I sank that eight-foot rod quickly and easily.
That method is what I use, but sandy soil won’t let you hydro drill by tamping, When it does work I can tamp 8 foot rod in less than 2 minutes with one hand. I had to buy an old man lunch on a bet is how I learned 😂 73 N5YWP
Despite having multiple ground rods (they are bonded to each other and to the electrical ground.) I did not find them very effective as an RF ground despite having good ground conductivity. A radial field is far more effective for me for RF efficiency. Good luck with your project.
FYI Multiple ground rods unless permanently bonded together are a violation of the National electrical code. If... you ever get a nearby lightning strike you will find out why that is.
Wish my ground was that soft.. I used a root waterer for the first 2', working around rocks, but then it was pounding. I'm "frugal" (cheap) or I would have rented a tool that electricians use for installing grounds.. makes it a piece of cake.. but, it's like a $75 rental fee at big orange.
@@DarrenN4VFRSo, if my service is on the opposite side of my house from the antenna and lightening arrester, should they still be connected together? Or did you tie them together simply because you were already close to your electrical service? There would be nearly 50ft between my antenna ground and electrical service ground.
@@remarkable_ruin8608 I'm not a subject matter expert, but if I remembered right, it's best to make your ground connected to the service ground of your home. That's what I did. Have your grounding rods all connected together.
That's what i was thinking. up to 1ft diameter rounded rocks under my garden here in Scotland. Near a river so maybe once upon a time my garden would have been a river bed. I got about 3ft down and hit a rock that took some smashing on the hammer to either move it or split - who knows to get the rest in.
Here we go again ! Sorry but as soon as I heard him mention mushrooming the end of the ground rod, I stopped watching ! As impossible as what I'm about to say, may sound impossible, believe me, once you try this method, you will never beat on a ground rod again ! Over the course of better than 40 years of Hamming, I have installed many a ground rod in this fashion ! The caveat here would likely exclude heavily rocky soil, tree roots, etc. ! Use common sense ! The formula for installation is to remove a circular pattern of dirt, using a spade, shovel, etc., About 1 foot in diameter, and a foot or so deep ! It doesn't take much ! Not critical ! A cone shape is fine, and may prove useful, as it may serve to funnel water to the center of your hole. Take a bucket of water, and pour into the hole. Let stand until most of the water is absorbed. I have found that sometimes adding additional water thru this process may be beneficial. Next take the pointed end of the ground round, and push the rod down, with your hands, into the center, as near you can get it, of the hole ! When you can no longer push any deeper, pull the rod up until you feel it break lose ! Adding water as you deem necessary throughout this process ! I like to leave water standing, as it will soon be drank up by Mother Earth ! Continue the up and down motion with the rod, until you have the appropriate height you choose sticking above the surface of the ground. This requires a little elbow grease, but once you've done this, you will kick yourself for ever beating a ground rod ! Keep the up and down motion going, and you should have the rod in place, literally within minutes ! Of course there will be exceptions, like the occasional Rock, tree root etc., which may require either some use of a hammer, or change in placement ! Hope someone finds this useful ! Good luck ! Be Safe ! '73 !
Knocking in some grounding rods saves you a lot of money on the Local Gym. You did a great job, Capt. Darren. Looks good and will do the Trick as it should. 👍👍👍
Alternate method my dad (a licensed master electrician) taught me long ago: "wash" the rod into the ground. poke the rod into the ground as far as you can, at least a few inches. Remove the rod and pour in water. Reinsert rod and work up-and-down as far as you can. Remove and pour in more water. Repeat several times, until top of the rod is within an inch or two of ground's surface.. Much easier than pounding with a hammer.
Obviously, this won't work if you hit rock -- but then, not much will work in that case.
The ground rod we washed in for my crystal radio (I was 6 years old, or thereabouts) went into hard-packed West Tennessee clay soil, and it went in easily; I actually did most of the work, after he showed me how.. I was surprised since I already knew that clay soil was hard to dig in. But by turning it into mud, I sank that eight-foot rod quickly and easily.
That method is what I use, but sandy soil won’t let you hydro drill by tamping,
When it does work I can tamp 8 foot rod in less than 2 minutes with one hand.
I had to buy an old man lunch on a bet is how I learned 😂 73 N5YWP
I just use a hammer drill and have installed hundreds of ground rods as a maintenance man in a factory.
Nice job!
Exothermically Weld the copper wire to the ground rod. Harger sells a kit.
Despite having multiple ground rods (they are bonded to each other and to the electrical ground.) I did not find them very effective as an RF ground despite having good ground conductivity. A radial field is far more effective for me for RF efficiency. Good luck with your project.
FYI Multiple ground rods unless permanently bonded together are a violation of the National electrical code. If... you ever get a nearby lightning strike you will find out why that is.
Wish my ground was that soft.. I used a root waterer for the first 2', working around rocks, but then it was pounding. I'm "frugal" (cheap) or I would have rented a tool that electricians use for installing grounds.. makes it a piece of cake.. but, it's like a $75 rental fee at big orange.
Thank you for watching my videos! Me to! I would do whatever it took to get that grounding rod in the earth instead of renting the grounding rod tool.
Use a fence post driver t
Can you please make a video of you connecting the wires?
Good idea!
@@DarrenN4VFRSo, if my service is on the opposite side of my house from the antenna and lightening arrester, should they still be connected together? Or did you tie them together simply because you were already close to your electrical service? There would be nearly 50ft between my antenna ground and electrical service ground.
@@remarkable_ruin8608 I'm not a subject matter expert, but if I remembered right, it's best to make your ground connected to the service ground of your home. That's what I did. Have your grounding rods all connected together.
Apenas hoy encontré su canal soy radioaficionado al igual que usted y me encanta la aviación. Saludos Capitán desde Pearland Tx.
We have red clay here in alabama
my ground was hard. so what I did was got a rod pounding bit for my pneumatic demolition hammer and drove an 8 footer in about 10 minutes
That's awesome! Yeah, probably took me about 3 times as long.
won't pound it that way up here in New England............ we grow rocks as a crop!!
Hahahahaha. Thank you for watching. Hi Hi.
That's what i was thinking. up to 1ft diameter rounded rocks under my garden here in Scotland. Near a river so maybe once upon a time my garden would have been a river bed. I got about 3ft down and hit a rock that took some smashing on the hammer to either move it or split - who knows to get the rest in.
be carefull you don,t get a ground loop cpt because you will end up with noise noise noise m7byf england
What is a grounding loop cpt?
How to avoid grounding loops
Here we go again !
Sorry but as soon as I heard him mention mushrooming the end of the ground rod, I stopped watching !
As impossible as what I'm about to say, may sound impossible, believe me, once you try this method, you will never beat on a ground rod again !
Over the course of better than 40 years of Hamming, I have installed many a ground rod in this fashion !
The caveat here would likely exclude heavily rocky soil, tree roots, etc. !
Use common sense !
The formula for installation is to remove a circular pattern of dirt, using a spade, shovel, etc., About 1 foot in diameter, and a foot or so deep !
It doesn't take much !
Not critical !
A cone shape is fine, and may prove useful, as it may serve to funnel water to the center of your hole.
Take a bucket of water, and pour into the hole.
Let stand until most of the water is absorbed.
I have found that sometimes adding additional water thru this process may be beneficial.
Next take the pointed end of the ground round, and push the rod down, with your hands, into the center, as near you can get it, of the hole !
When you can no longer push any deeper, pull the rod up until you feel it break lose !
Adding water as you deem necessary throughout this process !
I like to leave water standing, as it will soon be drank up by Mother Earth !
Continue the up and down motion with the rod, until you have the appropriate height you choose sticking above the surface of the ground.
This requires a little elbow grease, but once you've done this, you will kick yourself for ever beating a ground rod !
Keep the up and down motion going, and you should have the rod in place, literally within minutes !
Of course there will be exceptions, like the occasional Rock, tree root etc., which may require either some use of a hammer, or change in placement !
Hope someone finds this useful !
Good luck !
Be Safe !
'73 !
Cool way! Thanks for the tips! Gonna try that next time.
@@DarrenN4VFR
I know it sounds unbelievable, but it truly works !
Good Luck !
👍😉
I have been doing it this way for 25 years and it woks great! Install the ground rod acorn as a handle.