On Mon, 31 Mar 2003 15:12:38 -0800, Jim Lux wrote:
>You need to separate "grounding for lightning protection", "RF
>grounding", and "safety ground" as concepts. If you're driving the
>tower as a radiator, then the ground at the tower is the "RF
>ground". The ground at the shack would presumably be for "safety",
>and one would assume that you have sufficient
>chokes/baluns/filtering/decoupling to make sure that the outside of
>the cable doesn't provide a significant RF path. The RF on the
>inside of the coax is part of the circuit, just like any other part
>of the feedline system. The safety ground is what makes sure that
>when you are standing there in bare feet on the damp concrete floor,
>you don't get a shock from touching the rig.
I realize there is probably no "one size fits all" approach to grounding but
the amount of material available can be daunting and a little tough (at least
for me) to decipher.
For example, I have two possible locations for my shack. One is in an
upstairs (2nd story) bedroom, the other is in an unfinished, kind of damp,
basement. In both cases the electrical service for the house is at the
opposite end of the structure. The information I've reviewed so far says
grounds should be as short as possible and tied back to the service ground to
avoid ground loops. In either shack location short in terms of electrical
wavelengths is not possible.
What approach is recommended for a less than perfect situation such as this?
I want to do what I can to make the most of my station but the RF grounding
has me stumped.
Tim, N9PUZ
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