Return-Path: Received: (qmail 10375 invoked from network); 17 Dec 2002 09:17:24 -0000 Received: from marstons.services.quay.plus.net (212.159.14.223) by mailstore with SMTP; 17 Dec 2002 09:17:24 -0000 X-Priority: 3 Received: (qmail 25688 invoked by uid 10001); 17 Dec 2002 09:17:23 -0000 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal Received: from post.thorcom.com (193.82.116.70) by marstons.services.quay.plus.net with SMTP; 17 Dec 2002 09:17:22 -0000 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 X-SQ: A Received: from majordom by post.thorcom.com with local (Exim 4.10) id 18ODqD-00027x-00 for rsgb_lf_group-outgoing@blacksheep.org; Tue, 17 Dec 2002 09:16:41 +0000 Received: from [134.58.10.57] (helo=mail3.cc.kuleuven.ac.be) by post.thorcom.com with esmtp (Exim 4.10) id 18ODqC-00027k-00 for rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org; Tue, 17 Dec 2002 09:16:41 +0000 Received: from dell-rik.fys.kuleuven.ac.be (pc-10-33-165-177.fys.kuleuven.ac.be [10.33.165.177]) by mail3.cc.kuleuven.ac.be (8.12.1/8.12.1) with ESMTP id gBH9GA2L046204 for ; Tue, 17 Dec 2002 10:16:10 +0100 Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.0.20021217100917.02c8a5b0@pb623250.kuleuven.be> X-Sender: pb623250@pb623250.kuleuven.be X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.1 Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 10:23:02 +0100 To: rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org From: "Rik Strobbe" In-reply-to: <009401c2a530$ef52f600$26cdfc3e@l8p8y6> MIME-Version: 1.0 Subject: Re: LF: EARTH RESISTANCE Content-Type: text/html; charset=windows-1252 X-Spam-Status: No, hits=0.0 required=5.0tests=IN_REP_TO,SPAM_PHRASE_00_01version=2.42 Sender: Precedence: bulk Reply-To: rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org X-Listname: rsgb_lf_group Content-transfer-encoding: 8bit At 18:27 16/12/2002 +0000, you wrote:

Hi all
Dick has indicated that Earth Resistance gets higher when the ground is wet. That seems strange and contrary to accepted theory. The ideal ground plane for a vertical is on a wet plain or preferably positioned in the middle of a lake or in the middle of the Ocean. Have I missed something and read his observation incorrectly.
de Mal/G3KEV

In many cases wet soil will conduct better than dry soil, but not alway.
As the water in the soil dissolves the salts conductivitity will increase, bit once (almost) everything is dissolved more water will make the solution "thinner" and thus decrease conductivity.
Could it be that in places with a "natural" low soil loss (so most salt already dissolved) rain will increase the loss while with poor soil it will decrease ?
By the way, an antenna in the middle of a sweet water lake might not work very well as sweet water is a rather poor conductor, in contradiction to salt water.
Another thing I observed : during rainfall the loss resistance increases and only starts sinking a few hours (or even days) after the rain stops :
day 1 (dry) : 115 Ohm
day 2-3 (heavy rain) : gradual increase to 130 Ohm
day 4-5 (dry) : gradual decrease to 95 Ohm
day 6-10 (dry) : gradual increase to 115 Ohm
I believe that the first increase is caused by the wet greenery, after the greenery dries up (but soil is still wet) the decrease starts and after the soil dries up I am back to start.

73, Rik ON7YD