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Bob F

wrote:
When the phone company installed my outdoor phone connection box, they
installed a separate ground rod. But the one for my electric panel is
50 feet away. I'm running my own phone line from my house to another
building at quite a distance. I intend to install another outdoor box
with built in lightning protection. (same as the one from the phone
company). The ground rod from my electric service is 6 feet away. Is
there any reason not to use the same rod? It dont seem to make much
sense to drive in another rod.

Note: I intend to also ground a tv antenna to it.

Do make sure your phone line is grounded. I was talking to a neighbor once when
lightning struck very close. She was using a wired landline, and got shocked.
For days afterwards, her hearing was ultra sensitive. She said she could hear
everything, often way too loud.

Checking later, I found that the phone line ground had been broken off the
outside water spigot it had previously been connected to.