I am installing a ham radio and want to properly ground it.
I will be including a lightning arrester that will also go the the ground.
I will have a 20' mast with a long wire antenna running 130+ feet out to the south. The far end will be about 45 feet above ground level.
There is a ground connection on my mounting plate and also on the plate in my window that feeds the transmission lines in and out of the house. Inside I will have a 3 to 4 foot piece of copper pipe which will be common to all the cases of my system. It will be tied to the window ground feed through and from there to the ground rod.
I live in the North Western Arizona Desert and the ground is very dry. I am installing an 8 foot ground rod and because of the caliche I'm having to actually drill thru the dirt to put the rod in.
Would I benefit from multiple rods along the side of my house? Would copper pipe work as well, or better than, the steel rod which is copper clad?
Would it benefit my ground to run a slow drip maybe a gallon a day into the copper pipe so that the dirt at the bottom remains wet?
The pipe sections are 10' long vice the 8' of the rods. Will that help a lot or a little?
What else should I do?
What gauge wire should I use and should it be stranded, like the ground straps in a car, or solid or both?