[TenTec] Station Grounding

[Dave Heil]

Some of the misinformation on this topic comes straight from Paul at 
Ten-Tec.  After I had lightning damage and discussed the matter with a 
local ham who is an electric company employee, I broached the subject 
with Paul.  While not argumentative, he was insistent that radio station 
grounds and power company grounds should never be tied together.

It was quite obvious from the damage done here three years back, that 
lightning hit the power lines and entered my home via that means.  The 
shack ground was not tied to the house's power ground.  It was obvious 
that the difference in potentials between the two grounds caused most of 
the damage.  Despite Paul's view, the two are now tied together with #00
wire.

Paul has the opinion that not only should the two grounds not be tied 
together, the radio equipment should be disconnected from *everything* 
when not in use.  While I disconnect antennas, I'm not disconnecting my 
transceiver from power and all other equipment each time I'm finished 
using it.  It simply isn't practical.

Dave Heil K8MN

Mike Gorniak wrote:
> Agreed! For the life of me, I will Never understand why there is so much 
> debate in the Ham Radio Community regarding this issue. In the 
> Professional World, there is no debate at all. We look very foolish to 
> outsiders when we incessantly and incorrectly pontificate about matters 
> that have already been settled from an engineering perspective. The NEC 
> requires all grounds to be bonded. Just do it. You'll be a lot safer. As 
> AA4NU suggests, Polyphasor is a good resource. Here's another:
> 
> http://www.nautel.com/Resources/Docs/Whitepapers/lightningprotection.pdf