Hi Guys, first post here.
I am a US ham living in Japan. I am fully licensed in both countries but have been having difficulty setting up a station here due to a chronic lack of space. I've been resolving those issues one-by-one, but one major problem still eludes me. So little is talked about it online that I must assume it's a non-problem for you "normal" people out there, but my situation just isn't that normal.
I'm trying to set up an RF/lightning ground for my 2nd floor shack in a country that doesn't use US style grounds in its electrical system. The shack is in the right-rear corner of my house and the water and electrical service entrances are in the left-front corner. A utility pole just off the street supplies power via overhead wires. The house ground, if it exists at all, would be near the utility pole and could not be further away from my shack. It is therefore not possible for me to run a wire from it to below my shack window. The house's circuit panel is located near the entrance on the first floor - no chance of reaching it either. As is typical in earthquake-prone Japan, there is no basement, just a short crawlspace above a concrete slab. You'd have to be a mole to crawl around down there and I'm too old for that kind of activity.
I have acquired a 5 foot copper-clad ground rod (the longest I could find here), as well as some 6 ga stranded copper ground wire from the States, plus a lightning arrestor and various brass clamps. However, I only have a few square feet in which to bury the rod, and the location must be between the house foundation and a concrete retaining wall located only a meter away (see pictures). Beyond the wall is an open concrete drainage ditch. The ditch represents the rear property line so going beyond it is impossible, too. My wife's garden is just to the right but I want to avoid putting the ground rod and wire there for her safety. There's also a rain gutter drain bucket buried there (small white circle seen in one of the photos) which I need to avoid as well.
I do have a few three-pronged grounded outlets in my shack which I had to pay extra for because Japanese houses usually only have a two-wire electrical system. The ground in those outlets will have to serve as my equipment ground but how to bond it to my antenna ground remains another unsolved problem.
My immediate concern, however, is how to bury that 5 foot rod. I've tried pounding the end with a big claw hammer, and then using a Bosch impact driver, but neither would budge it. The ground is rocky clay reclaimed from other building sites. I know it can be penetrated but I apparently don't have the tools and/or strength to do it. So how is this seemingly simple task done?
Thanks and 73,
de KD2ORG and JS2OLO
Shizuoka, Japan
I am a US ham living in Japan. I am fully licensed in both countries but have been having difficulty setting up a station here due to a chronic lack of space. I've been resolving those issues one-by-one, but one major problem still eludes me. So little is talked about it online that I must assume it's a non-problem for you "normal" people out there, but my situation just isn't that normal.
I'm trying to set up an RF/lightning ground for my 2nd floor shack in a country that doesn't use US style grounds in its electrical system. The shack is in the right-rear corner of my house and the water and electrical service entrances are in the left-front corner. A utility pole just off the street supplies power via overhead wires. The house ground, if it exists at all, would be near the utility pole and could not be further away from my shack. It is therefore not possible for me to run a wire from it to below my shack window. The house's circuit panel is located near the entrance on the first floor - no chance of reaching it either. As is typical in earthquake-prone Japan, there is no basement, just a short crawlspace above a concrete slab. You'd have to be a mole to crawl around down there and I'm too old for that kind of activity.
I have acquired a 5 foot copper-clad ground rod (the longest I could find here), as well as some 6 ga stranded copper ground wire from the States, plus a lightning arrestor and various brass clamps. However, I only have a few square feet in which to bury the rod, and the location must be between the house foundation and a concrete retaining wall located only a meter away (see pictures). Beyond the wall is an open concrete drainage ditch. The ditch represents the rear property line so going beyond it is impossible, too. My wife's garden is just to the right but I want to avoid putting the ground rod and wire there for her safety. There's also a rain gutter drain bucket buried there (small white circle seen in one of the photos) which I need to avoid as well.
I do have a few three-pronged grounded outlets in my shack which I had to pay extra for because Japanese houses usually only have a two-wire electrical system. The ground in those outlets will have to serve as my equipment ground but how to bond it to my antenna ground remains another unsolved problem.
My immediate concern, however, is how to bury that 5 foot rod. I've tried pounding the end with a big claw hammer, and then using a Bosch impact driver, but neither would budge it. The ground is rocky clay reclaimed from other building sites. I know it can be penetrated but I apparently don't have the tools and/or strength to do it. So how is this seemingly simple task done?
Thanks and 73,
de KD2ORG and JS2OLO
Shizuoka, Japan
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