|
Grounding a ham radio base station
I am so confused about how to properly ground a system. I will have a
two meter and a 440 on the roof of my house. I will run the coax down to my sofit vents or whatever they are called and run the coax inside the vents to my shack. Behind the wall where my rquipment will be is a storage space that I can acess. (This is a finished attic). I will be using a mobile radio that has two antenna outputs, one for 2 meter and one for 440. How do I ground the radio and does it need it? Should the coax itself be grounded and how? Do I have to purchase one of those surge things that screws into the coax? Any advice is appreciated! |
my dads a ham
he grounds coax to a separate grounding rod (copper water pipe he jetted down - 10' I think) which is tied with a #6 or maybe even a 4 to the tower and loops to the same water pipe ground the elect service is grounded to. Seems he can't get enough ground ;) But we do have lots of lightning here on the gulf coast of Florida that still blows up things. wrote in message oups.com... I am so confused about how to properly ground a system. I will have a two meter and a 440 on the roof of my house. I will run the coax down to my sofit vents or whatever they are called and run the coax inside the vents to my shack. Behind the wall where my rquipment will be is a storage space that I can acess. (This is a finished attic). I will be using a mobile radio that has two antenna outputs, one for 2 meter and one for 440. How do I ground the radio and does it need it? Should the coax itself be grounded and how? Do I have to purchase one of those surge things that screws into the coax? Any advice is appreciated! |
|
Check out the rfi and towertalk mailing lists at www.contesting.com.
Wiring and grounding of stations are frequent topics of discussion, and the archives should be searchable even without registration. Perce On 01/25/05 08:31 am tossed the following ingredients into the ever-growing pot of cybersoup: I am so confused about how to properly ground a system. I will have a two meter and a 440 on the roof of my house. I will run the coax down to my sofit vents or whatever they are called and run the coax inside the vents to my shack. Behind the wall where my rquipment will be is a storage space that I can acess. (This is a finished attic). I will be using a mobile radio that has two antenna outputs, one for 2 meter and one for 440. How do I ground the radio and does it need it? Should the coax itself be grounded and how? Do I have to purchase one of those surge things that screws into the coax? Any advice is appreciated! |
On Tue, 25 Jan 2005 15:07:49 GMT, "bumtracks"
wrote: my dads a ham he grounds coax to a separate grounding rod (copper water pipe he jetted down - 10' I think) which is tied with a #6 or maybe even a 4 to the tower and loops to the same water pipe ground the elect service is grounded to. Seems he can't get enough ground ;) But we do have lots of lightning here on the gulf coast of Florida that still blows up things. Not flaming, just notice how when someone grounds a metal object for lightning, they use wire like 6 awg, or 4 awg. But when someone grounds lighting rods, they used monster cables. http://www.chopurl.com?552 Does this mean even the 4 awg is too small? later, tom wrote in message roups.com... I am so confused about how to properly ground a system. I will have a two meter and a 440 on the roof of my house. I will run the coax down to my sofit vents or whatever they are called and run the coax inside the vents to my shack. Behind the wall where my rquipment will be is a storage space that I can acess. (This is a finished attic). I will be using a mobile radio that has two antenna outputs, one for 2 meter and one for 440. How do I ground the radio and does it need it? Should the coax itself be grounded and how? Do I have to purchase one of those surge things that screws into the coax? Any advice is appreciated! |
Ground the coax before it comes into your house. Also run a ground wire from the mast directly down to ground and put a ground rod there. Also run a wire from the ground rod to the ground of your electrical panel. The lightning WILL get to ground, one way or another. The idea is to give it another path that does not involve your house or radios. Also ask on rec.radio.amateur.antenna 73's Mark |
|
Additional information for this and other similar posts.
Application note demonstrates the concept: http://www.erico.com/public/library/...es/tncr002.pdf Examples of how earthing is installed or enhanced: http://www.psihq.com/iread/strpgrnd.htm http://www.cinergy.com/surge/ttip08.htm http://scott-inc.com/html/ufer.htm Failure to install single point grounding can cause damage: http://www.epri-peac.com/tutorials/sol01tut.html Above is earthing for secondary protection. This is inspection for the primary protection: http://www.tvtower.com/fpl.html One discussion in a ham radio group: http://lists.contesting.com/_towerta...il/004413.html The basic scenario is to install a Single Point Ground System that is installed at the building entry. It shunts everything to ground before it goes in the building. If you can keep it outside, then you don't really have to do much inside. IMO disconnecting the cables is more psychological than preventive. Another's experience: http://www.harvardrepeater.org/news/lightning.html Well I assert, from personal and broadcast experience spanning 30 years, that you can design a system that will handle *direct lightning strikes* on a routine basis. It takes some planning and careful layout, but it's not hard, nor is it overly expensive. At WXIA-TV, my other job, we take direct lightning strikes nearly every time there's a thunderstorm. Our downtime from such strikes is almost non-existant. The last time we went down from a strike, it was due to a strike on the power company's lines knocking *them* out, ... Since my disasterous strike, I've been campaigning vigorously to educate amateurs that you *can* avoid damage from direct strikes. The belief that there's no protection from direct strike damage is *myth*. ... The keys to effective lightning protection are surprisingly simple, and surprisingly less than obvious. Of course you *must* have a single point ground system that eliminates all ground loops. And you must present a low *impedance* path for the energy to go. That's most generally a low *inductance* path rather than just a low ohm DC path. Lastly, what many consider a benchmark in the art of earthing: http://www.polyphaser.com/ppc_technical.asp http://www.polyphaser.com/ppc_pen_home.asp Sam O'Nella wrote: wrote: I am so confused about how to properly ground a system. Good on you for at least knowing you should ground it. There are countless resources on the web with this info, a simple one is http://www.wshu.org/engineer/lightning2.asp Google it. |
On Tue, 25 Jan 2005 22:50:56 -0600, "JerryMouse"
wrote: wrote: I am so confused about how to properly ground a system. I will have a two meter and a 440 on the roof of my house. I will run the coax down to my sofit vents or whatever they are called and run the coax inside the vents to my shack. Behind the wall where my rquipment will be is a storage space that I can acess. (This is a finished attic). I will be using a mobile radio that has two antenna outputs, one for 2 meter and one for 440. How do I ground the radio and does it need it? Should the coax itself be grounded and how? Do I have to purchase one of those surge things that screws into the coax? Any advice is appreciated! An amateur radio operator who's a bit confused over grounding antennas? Are you sure you're not operating on the 11-meter band? In "The Doctor" printed in the March 2005 QST, even the ARRL got it WRONG by saying not to bond to the electrical service. That is in violation of NEC, and is very wrong. Sorry, but most hams are clueless when it comes to grounding. I sure was at first, but after many years of working on tall towers in the communications and broadcasting industries I've learned a lot about proper grounding. Ground the coax shield before it enters the house. Use as large a wire as is practical. No smaller than #6, I try to use at least #2, or 3" copper strap when I can. Make sure ALL grounds are bonded, Ham antenna, TV antenna, Cable TV, Power, Telephone, etc. Extra ground rods are a good idea, as long as they are all bonded together and to all the utilities listed above. Space them 16' apart if possible, if you put them to close together it limits the effectiveness during a lightning strike. Spacing them farther than 16' is not really necessary. Visit www.polyphaser.com for lots of good info on Grounding. |
| All times are GMT +1. The time now is 12:38 PM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004 - 2014 DIYbanter