| Author |
Message |
    
Hoosier Cardinal
| | Posted on Friday, August 09, 2002 - 10:54 am: | 
|
I have a question about grounding my equpiment here in the radio room. I have 2 wires one going from the antenna switchbox to the cold water under the floor and another from my lightning arrestor to the same water line. Should i do this or would it be better to run the wires outside and then attach them to a ground rod driven into the ground outside the radio room? |
Marconi
| | Posted on Friday, August 09, 2002 - 1:20 pm: |
|
Well I would get all that outside to another independent ground system. The way is is, if you get hit it will get directly into the ground that everything in the house is connected to. Builders tend to connect additional grounds, close to sources inside the house, to cold water pipes. It is just handy but it connects everything to the outside ground at the junction box.
On the other hand if you have a direct hit on your lot the lightning or stray current will likely find its way into the underground water pipe anyway. Lighting seems to like metal stuff underground. So you could expect some damage anyway you look at it, if you are just unlucky enough to get hit.
I don't ground my stuff unless I have RF on the system. I disconnect stuff when the weather is bad and when I leave.
Marconi |
bruce
| | Posted on Friday, August 09, 2002 - 2:08 pm: |
|
This is a realy important idem for all radio users
The last good system i saw used a single ground point for the antenna NOT connected to the house ground or water at all. Marconi is correct the house ground has everything inc you phone hooked to it Here where we work we get hit all the time but It's a big place unlike your home still with hunderds of lighting roda ans gas supressers we get damage. Nothing will take a direct hit but suviving the close ones is can be done. |
Insider
| | Posted on Friday, August 09, 2002 - 7:47 pm: |
|
I would not ground the antenna to the same ground rods as the radio/station equipment.
I recently moved all my equipment to the third floor and here's my set up.
A99 mounted to my roof, with ground wire running down the side of the house to a dedicated antenna ground.
All the station gear is grounded to the case of my lowpass filter, which is grounded to a cold water pipe.
The power cords on almost all my gear has snap on chokes on them to reduce RF on the power lines--need to get a bigger one for the amp's power cord.
Maybe not the best set up, but it's virtually eliminated interference in my house, except for on one TV set which after wrapping a choke around it's power cord is only minimally effected when I switch on the amp--a rare ocassion. |
Bigbob
| | Posted on Friday, August 09, 2002 - 8:41 pm: |
|
Gosh bruce you must have big fingers like me,'course I use only one and type real slow.What you typed would'a took me 10 minutes.YOU ARE RIGHT ON about that ground.A friend told me to drive one 1/2" copper ground rod vertical.Then excavate down 6" all around the mast then lay 12 ground rods in a radial pattern,then using a torch solder heavy braid to tie them together then using an exhaust pipe clamp attach to mast,then cover radial rods with soil.My god 15 minutes,my finger's sore and my eyes are bleery. |
Jimbob
| | Posted on Saturday, August 10, 2002 - 7:26 am: |
|
Water pipes, household wiring, etc do not make a good RF ground. A seperate 10 foot ground rod just outside of your radio room is best. Use at least a #6 guage wire and if the wire is over 6-8 feet in length, go to a 3/4 to 1" flat braded wire. This simple ground system is for good soil conditions such as a clay loam and a medium to high moisture content. |
Taz
| | Posted on Saturday, August 10, 2002 - 9:18 pm: |
|
use ground rods. I use 8 gauge wire and 8 foot ground rods. |
Jimbob
| | Posted on Saturday, August 10, 2002 - 9:53 pm: |
|
Bigbob's suggestion is great & best for poor soil conductivity sush as dry sandy loam. |
Hoosier Cardinal
| | Posted on Saturday, August 10, 2002 - 10:56 pm: |
|
Well its done and over. I had to drill through a 1 foot thick concrete wall but i finally got it all done. Now my switchbox and my arrestor are hooked to their dedicated ground.. WOW! Took me about 25 minutes to drill through that darn wall though!!!! :-( |
Taz
| | Posted on Saturday, August 10, 2002 - 11:43 pm: |
|
lol. dont drill to hard |
Bigbob
| | Posted on Sunday, August 11, 2002 - 7:38 am: |
|
Just curious,do you own that wall or are you renting it? |
Hoosier Cardinal
| | Posted on Sunday, August 11, 2002 - 8:29 am: |
|
This house is built like a freaking FORT and thats no joke! Solid 1' thick concrete walls everywere! Sheesh!!! Thats why it took so long to drill!!! Oh well im done now!! Hopefully i wont do this again! What a pain! Well i got two projects done yesterday ive been wanting to do that groud deal and i got my cousin to come over with the bucket truck and straighten up my beams so they are inline with the indication on the rotor control box... Not the antenna points exactly were i set the indicator. Wind spun the antenna mast inside the top part of the rotor. IMHO a bucket truck is the way to go for antenna work!!!!!! :-) |
Hoosier Cardinal
| | Posted on Sunday, August 11, 2002 - 8:29 am: |
|
This house is built like a freaking FORT and thats no joke! Solid 1' thick concrete walls everywere! Sheesh!!! Thats why it took so long to drill!!! Oh well im done now!! Hopefully i wont do this again! What a pain! Well i got two projects done yesterday ive been wanting to do that groud deal and i got my cousin to come over with the bucket truck and straighten up my beams so they are inline with the indication on the rotor control box... Not the antenna points exactly were i set the indicator. Wind spun the antenna mast inside the top part of the rotor. IMHO a bucket truck is the way to go for antenna work!!!!!! :-) |
BIG FOOT
| | Posted on Sunday, August 11, 2002 - 9:49 am: |
|
..never GROUND one appliance to another appliance to the outside ground..always run an INDEPENDENT ground to each piece of equipment...just trying to HELP in a small way...BIG FOOT |
