One h_ll of a problem.

First: What do You need the ground rods for?
Is it RF earth or lightening protection.

For Lightening protection, almost anything will do. Remember, You only will
have
to make it EASIER for the lightning to take a predictable way, than taking a
un-predictable one. Just drill a hole, put in the rod, put some soil in the
hole and
enjoy.

For RF ground, things go from acceptable to nightmare(-ish). First of all, You
will
need at least three rods. Then, You HAVE soil on Your property. 1 foot of it
(30 cm). What you do now, is to take out the showel, and start digging. Three
holes, in a triangle some 10 feet apart. The diameter of the holes, say 2 feet.

Dig until You hit the rocks. Then, find an electric or pneumatic drilling
machine.
There are excellent machines that makes holes in rock as it was butter. Then,
You
put in 3 rods, length about 4 feet in the holes. The small hole in the rock is
filled
with salt (NaOH). The digged part of the holes are filled up to 3/4 (You need
a small part below ground level for "refilling") with a mixture 50% soil, 50%
salt.
Then You dig a ring around EACH hole. This ring is 4'' deep, 4" wide.
Connect Your rods to Your RF earth system. Before You plan to go QRV, take
a watering can, and fill the rings with water 1 hour in advance (dry season
only). Two times a year, You fill the holes with extra salt, until it reaches
ground
level (the "refilling" described above).

Remember, that Your plants will die, and perhaps, thus Your marriage. Your
Neighbors
will turn their dislike of radio amateurs into pure hate. A small price for a
decent RF
ground in rocky environment! You COULD of course use wires instead. But that's
cheating!


Northern Lights wrote:

I have a mundane question.

Does anyone have suggestions for installing ground rods in rocky soil? The
topsoil on my property tends to be very shallow, at times only 12 in. deep.
I would rather use earth ground and not go the route of an artificial
ground.

I think I know the answer to my question but wanted to see if anyone out
there had a silver bullet solution.

Phil, K4NE