[Amps] Lightning

Gary Smith mandolinist@interlync.com
Wed, 17 Apr 2002 20:14:08 -0500


On 18 Apr 2002 at 0:59, Ron wrote:

> I have thouroughly solved both problems of lightning and rf by using my cold water pipe.
> As we all know , the cold water pipe is the BEST ground that one can obtain and so 
I have expanded my cold water pipe to envelope my entire station.  I do sometimes 
get comments that my signal sounds watery but I can easily pass that off as long 
path propagation.
> ---

I throw this in because it is what was told to me at The ARRL;

I called to ask a question about my subscription & while there talked to tech support 
about a problem I have with my modem (With <5 w on 30 meters & down, my 
modem has a coronary). They asked if I had a good ground & I said yes, I'm 
connected to the cold water pipe where it comes into the house, a lead of 4 feet.

They said that is a terrible RF ground as the rest of the pipe line acts as an antenna. 
They said they used to suggest doing what I have done but newer research shows a 
dedicated ground is manditory & to avoid the cold water pipes.

Makes sense to me, ergo: the Marconi antenna.

Food for thought.

KA1J

Gary

Gary Smith

http://musician.dyndns.org

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, 
and I'm not sure about the former.

- Einstein -