Joseph is right. You do NOT want to ground a lightning strike thru
your house. Hammer in a copper rod as deep as you can and as near
your mast as possible. Keep this ground away from your house wiring.
Pj



On Tue, 09 Mar 2004 02:47:01 GMT, "volts500"
wrote:


"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message
...
John wrote:
Im new to this and know this subject has been discussed in the past. I
have tried reading previous posts, but am still confused on the
subject. I want to put up a tv antenna. I plan on attaching the mast
to my facia. Radio shack sells cable with the ground wire attached,
which I plan on running into the house and grounding to a cold water
pipe.

If that Antenna is the highest thing around it may attract lightning.
Your grounding plan will bring it inside your home. That you don't want
to
do. Since the grounding may be for other than lightening protection your
answer may be different. Did it not come with some instructions?

The antenna will be mounted on the opposite side as my house ground.

If it is for lightning protection you DON'T want to use your home
electrical ground, you want it to have its own ground.

While it is true that a (true) lightning protection system should have it
own grounding system, it is very important that any lightning protection
grounding system be bonded to the electric power grounding system, resulting
in essentially one grounding system, increasing the chances that the whole
system rises to the same potential during a strike.

NEC Section 250.106 Lightning Protection Systems.
"The lightning protection system grounding terminals shall be bonded to the
building or structure grounding electrode system."