[chbot] Earth issues, noise currents, and hair-loss

[Andy ZL3AG]

What about these new earth stakes that are steel with a tidy coating of copper on the outside? I'm hoping there's a thick enough layer of zinc between the 2 to allow for some decent current flow but certainly pretty much useless as an RF earth.

On 22/11/2016, at 5:43 PM, Mark Beckett wrote:

> One thing that is troubling the electricity industry is current in the earth system.
> The neutral is derived from earth at the pole, or transformer, and is sent along with the phase/s to each house.
> At each house an earth is a stake /s are driven into the ground and joined to the neutral at the switchboard.
> 
> If the houses form an arc from the transformer/supply point, then at some point, the resistance to a non sinusoidal waveform might be lower resistance going via the earth back to the transformer/supply point.
> In this situation you have current flowing in the earth system which can cause electrolysis in metal buildings and other nasty stuff.
> 
> 
> In the old days the electrician was very neat and formed the spare earth wire into a very neat coil ... ie an air-cored choke.
> So anything that might have gone to earth is now sent back to the neutral wire and propogated into the system.
> 
> So yes it is an interesting subject once you add harmnincs and other nasties into a 50hz sinewave system.
> 
> Mark