[TenTec] RF Ground

[Steve Hunt]

Have you ever considered that providing a better local RF "ground" could 
make "RF in the shack" problems worse?

Take the example of a half-wave dipole fed with coax that is a multiple 
of a half-wavelength long and bonded to a "good RF ground" at the shack 
end. If there is no choke balun at the feedpoint, significant 
common-mode current will flow down the outside of the coax braid because 
it represents a low impedance path to earth. The better you make that 
"RF ground", the higher the common-mode current and the greater the 
potential for RF in the shack.

Steve G3TXQ

Martin Ewing wrote:
> Yes, but... It's still worth trying to establish a local RF "ground" --
> ensuring that everything in your shack is bonded together.  No antenna
> system is perfect, and many of us have some RF in our shacks.  
>