firstly, why the ground rod, or rods?
Secondly, the depth of the ground rod will depend allot on the type of soil 
you are dealing with.
6FT is typically the minimum recommended, 8 to 12 is generally better.
Are you thinking of earth ground for lightening, or RF ground for RFI 
issues?
Also, I would be hugely surprised, in fact, flabbergasted if your main water 
feed to the house was PVC.  But, stranger things have been known to happen.
I don't doubt all internal water piping is plastic, but most of the time, 
anything city side of the meter will be metal.
There is also usually a water line access stem somewhere on the property 
that can be attached to with use of a large hose clamp.
A general station ground is usually a good thing and you want to plant your 
ground rod as close to your operating position as possible to minimize the 
length of the wire from your ground bus to the ground rod.
From what I recall, you aren't using any tall masts or towers...but just 
determine weather there are any trees or buildings taller than your antennas 
and this will give you a better idea if you need a lightening ground system 
in place with multiple rods etc.
Personally I have never ever noticed any performance difference between 
having a ground rod and not having one.  The station is grounded through 
your household electrical system already (unless you are running strictly 
battery power)  so it's often redundant and unnecesary to have an additional 
ground.
If you have masts or a tower taller than anything surrounding it, and you 
are prone to lightening in the area, a couple ground rods around the bottom 
of the antenna support structure is never a bad idea to help shunt that 
lightening to ground and not to your radio equipment...although, with 
lightening, you are dealing with so much voltage that equipment often gets 
fried regardless of how good your ground system is.
73
Colin, V A6BKX
--------------------------------------------------
From: "Mark" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, August 06, 2014 11:58 AM
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Question about Ground Rods

> Hi Carolyn,
>
> Thank you for the encouraging words about the ground rods. Unfortunately, 
> I
> believe all the water pipes around here are PVC. It is good to know that 4
> foot rods might work.
>
> God bless,
> Mark (WZ0K)
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> On Behalf Of carolyn johnson
> Sent: Wednesday, August 6, 2014 11:25 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Question about Ground Rods
>
> Hi,
>
> I have two four foot ones that I used to use, and that seemed to do fine. 
> If
>
> worse comes to worse, you could always run wire to a water pipe.
>
> Carolyn Kj4vt
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "Mark" <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, August 06, 2014 10:43 AM
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Question about Ground Rods
>
>> Hi
>>
>> I know that the ultimate in grounding would be to sink an 8 foot ground
>> rod.
>> However, the budget is dictating that should wait for a while. So, I am
>> left
>> with two options. First, I could just ignore grounding the antennas and
>> radio. They are after all working pretty well right now. Or, I could go
>> with
>> a 3/8 inch 3 foot ground rod that fits the budget. Actually, I would buy 
>> 2
>> of them. So, the question is: is it even worth putting down a ground rod
>> that is less than 8 feet?
>>
>> God bless,
>> Mark (WZ0K)