Speaking of measuring ground conductivity, in a previous career (mid 1970s) I was as an airport police officer. One of the strangest things I saw was on a clear summer evening approaching midnight. I was assigned to escort a small convoy of military vehicles and a couple of unmarked tractor-trailer trucks to the remote end of one of the taxiways where they were to unload cargo from a military plane. When we got to the plane I quickly noticed that it was surrounded by about 6 guys in cammo uniforms with rifles who had apparently arrived on the aircraft. I had been instructed to remain in my patrol car, park nearby, and wait to escort them back out when they were ready. As I watched the operation I was especially interested in two military guys who drove two short ground rods into the closest piece of soil. They had a driver that fit over the rods and slid up and down easily driving them down a couple feet in just a few seconds. A small orange flag was then attached to the top of the foot or so that was left exposed probably so people wouldn't trip or drive over them. The ground rods were about 10 feet apart. They then brought out several reels of multi-strand bare copper wire that looked like the kind you see used to connect lightning rods to ground. The wire seemed to be very flexible for such a large overall size. They connected a wire to the aircraft, a wire to one of the semi trucks, and a wire to each ground rod and ran the 4 wires to a suitcase size device with fold out legs that made a little desk arrangement. It had several knobs, a large meter, and built-in panel lighting. I presume that they were controlling or monitoring the amount of static charge between the aircraft, the truck, and the ground. When they packed up to leave they even removed the ground rods with a little jack device that appeared to pull them out of the ground with very little effort. The whole process was very well orchestrated and obviously practiced. It took about three hours to complete. One semi took the entire load which was a large wooden crate on a pallet. It was moved very slowly by a forklift that arrived and left on the aircraft. I presume that the second semi was either a backup or a decoy. To this day I have no idea what the cargo was.
Patrick Griffith, CBT CBNT CRO Westminster CO http://community.webtv.net/AM-DXer/ _______________________________________________ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com