Guy Atkins wrote:
Hi Terry,

I tried a 4-foot ground rod because that's what Dallas showed in the antenna
diagram for his article. I do see now that his older article (which he
reproduces as an addendum to the newer version) shows and describes an
8-foot ground rod, however.

I have a Bentonite-enhanced ground rod about 12 feet away from the 4-footer.
I previously to use it for grounding the shield of a EWE antenna feedline,
but it's not currently in use, so I might run a heavy wire to that one and
give it a try. It's a good ground, and I've always had success with
Bentonite enhancement. It's such a hassle to dig the larger hole to hold all
the powdered Bentonite and water slurry, but the results can be worth the
effort.

In Seattle I've bought 50 lbs. of Bentonite for for just $13, but that was a
few years ago. I used to get all I wanted for free, as my wife's home town
in Wyoming has a number of Bentonite processing plants in the area. They
would give away slightly ripped bags of the stuff to anyone crazy enough to
ask for it!

Guy

Before I went completly nuts and put the perimenter ground ring in , I
used clumping
kitty litter, which uses a bentonite and baked/ground clay mixture. I
poured the
kitty litter in to a depth of several inches and added water and
repeated until it was
up to 5 or 6" fro the surface. I also had a capped 1" PVC pipe with
holes drilled
every inch or so that during realy dry summers I would route filtered
grey water from
the washing machine. The ground ring is significantly better as in
lower over all
noise floor, especially for VLF/whistler reception.

The hardest part was convincing the telephone company to use my ground.
They wanted to use a diky 4' ground rod.
Altel oh ya.
Two cans on a string would work as well.

Terry