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Old September 24th 09, 07:33 PM posted to rec.radio.amateur.antenna
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First recorded activity by RadioBanter: Jun 2006
Posts: 147
Default Aluminum as a ground system

In article 8,
Ed wrote:

I am only interested in the long term reliability of an aluminum ground
system in comparison to the more common copper system. This is for
lightning suppression only, I am not addressing RF issues. I am wondering
if aluminum can handle the potential surge currents that copper can... and
how well does its ground conductivity work when buried, when compared to
copper.

Ed K7AAT


For Lightning Protection Aluminum is NOT the grounding material of
choice. Higher resistance per foot. (Less conductivity) and the Oxide
boundary layer, make it unsuitable for this type of use. For RF Grounding
use, it will work just as well as copper as the Oxide layer really has
no effect at RF Frequencies.