Spring is here and while I still have snow covering many parts of the yard and temps well below freezing at night, I was able to drive an 8′ foot copper grounding rod (actually a copper clad steel rod courtesy of K1RX) into the ground without any problems. I was able to use a 5 lbs (2.2kg) hammer to get the job done and didn’t hit any ledge. Ran 14 gauge stranded copper wire to the clamp on the rod and connected the wire to the HF radio ground. I’ll work on a more substantial grounding system over the summer.
Next, I changed one end of the antenna support line on my 40 meter dipole. Had been using some thin, weak, neon green, nylon cord. Went with for 100′ of 3/32, black, UV resistant, Dacron rope I picked up at HRO on Saturday. The other support end was already using the stronger Dacron rope. Strong winds (40 to 50 MPH gusts) last week snapped the thinner cord before I had a chance to lower the dipole. Next upgrade is to put up a 140′ long, made in NH, UltraLite Senior antenna (for 160 to 10 meters) this spring.