Mark: The reason the neutral of the power line is grounded outside the house
at the meter is for safety. It is to try to keep any lightening strike on the
distibution lines from running into your house. It is a good idea to have at
least four ground rods, spaced 8' apart in a square pattern, and connected to
the utility ground with heavy copper wire, where the service enters your house,
near the meter. Do not bury ground radials near the septic system. The
chemicals in the water will distroy the copper or anything else metalic. Also,
have the utility company install a surge suppressor in the service entrance
panel box. Install at least a 200 ampere service. Cuttler Hammer makes
excellent residential circuit breaker service boxes. Make sure all electrical
work conforms to the National Electrical Code including GFI breakers where
required. Have your electrician use metal boxes where all splices are made
instead of the cheap plastic boxes. Decide which room will be your ham shack.
Have a separate branch line for the ham equipment with 240 VAC available incase
you ever wish to operate a QRO vacuum tube amplifier. When the framing is
complete but before the dry wall is installed, run multiple heavy high quality
coax lines to a convenient outside point for your antennas. A little planning
now can pay big dividends later. - Corn k4own
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