This ground rod took forever to pound in.

I had the opportunity in the spring to pick up free of charge 2 copper-clad 8-foot ground rods free of charge as long as I picked them up. It was about an hour's drive for me but free ground rods were well worth the trip. Also, I was able to meet one of the hams from our contest club and have a coffee and a nice chat. As things go I had many things to do around the house and installing ground rods was low on the list.  Well, September was here and I did not want to wait any longer and the decision was made to pound in two ground rods.
I did some online searching for ways to install ground rods and one way was to rent a tool that basically pounds them in. It's like a concrete hammer drill but for ground rods. I contacted the local building store who rented them and I was told for 1/2 day it was about 250.00!!!! Well, it first was time for plan B to see how that worked out. Plan B was to put the ground rods in on my own steam! Online there were many videos of folks who lifted the ground rod and slammed it into the ground. They kept doing this and added water into the hole as they went along. When the ground rod was close to the surface they used a hammer for the rest.  Another common thread in the videos was best case was to do this job after a few days of rain as this also helped out. As plans would have it did rain here for a few days and just after the rain I thought "It's a nice day to pound some ground rods in". Out I went with my trusty water bottles, work gloves and lots of ambition. I have to say the first ground rod at the base of my Hustler 4BTV went in very easily. So bubbling with confidence I moved to the second location which was for a ground rod that was to ground my station.
This spot was not as smooth going, the first attempt came to an abrupt stop at about the 4-foot mark. The only thing I could figure was I hit a tree root from one of our Maple trees. The second attempt was a charm BUT it was not easy going. I added water and slammed the ground rod down and it did go in but very very very slowly. Finally, success and both ground rods were in and connected to the antenna and the other to a ground bus in my shack.

 

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Ham College episode 116 is now available for download.

Ham College 116
Technician Exam Questions Part 3.
T1C – Licensing: classes, sequential and vanity call sign systems, places where the Amateur Radio Service is regulated by the FCC, name and address on FCC license database, term, renewal, grace period, maintaining mailing address; International communications
Early radio receivers.

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Hello and welcome to Epiosde 553 of Linux in the Ham Shack. In this short topics episode, the hosts discuss the recent troubles and resolutions at the ARRL, a RISC-V tablet that runs Ubuntu, the new version of LibreOffice, a Microsoft flaw that breaks things (shocker), and much more. Thanks for listening and have a great week.

73 de The LHS Crew

In this episode, we join Martin Butler M1MRB, Chris Howard (M0TCH), Martin Rothwell (M0SGL), Frank Howell (K4FMH), Bill Barnes (WC3B) and Leslie Butterfields (G0CIB) to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin Butler (M6BOY) rounds up the news in brief and the episode's feature is The incredible story of G2NM

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AmateurLogic.TV Episode 196 is now available for download.

George visited with friends at Huntsville Hamfest 2024 and found a few new interesting items. Tom Apalenek, WA2IVD with A-2-Z.tech introduced several unique helper products. Steve Molo, KI4KWR from GigaParts talks about the new Intellitron line of ham radio goodies. Meet Jerry Lynch, KE9AKK Sales Manager at Heil Ham Radio. Find out what George bought and what’s in the Mystery Box?

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