[TowerTalk] grounding questions

[Rob Atkinson, K5UJ]

>In the shack I have one #6 wire coming in that is grounded to a single 
>separate ground rod out side. This is for the equipment grounds in the 
>shack, again the ground terminals on all the equipment in the shack look to 
>small to use this big wire. I was thinking would use a split copper bolt to 
>attach smaller copper wires to this bigger wire is this the correct way?

I'd use 1.5 or 3 inch flat copper strap instead of the #6 wire.  AES is one 
source of rolls of this.

>
>
>One more dumb question when running the wires from the equipment grounds to 
>the ground wire coming into the the shack do I run 1 wire from each piece 
>to the main wire or connect them from 1 piece of equipment to another then 
>from the last piece of equipment to the main wire?
>I think the right way is each piece of equipment to the main wire.


I'd bond the strap (or #6 wire if you use that) to some kind of big 
terminal--it could be a copper bar or pipe about 18 inches long (it only has 
to be big enough to fit all the clamps for the gear grounds on it) and put 
your amp and transmatch (if you have these) as close as possible to it so 
their ground leads are not real long.  Run separate ground lines from each 
piece of gear you want to ground to this bar or pipe (a.k.a. a ground bus).  
I don't think there is really a need for a really long bus -- some are 6' 
long.
The ground lines to the gear can be tinned flat 1 inch wide braid.  One 
vendor for this is cable xperts.  I personally like it because it is easy to 
work with, for example you can poke a hole in one end and push it on a 
ground post or lug on a rear panel and tighten the wing nut and washers -- 
no problems with annoyingly short lugs or wrapping a big stiff wire, and the 
braid makes a pretty good run.  Some mfrs give you almost nothing to hook a 
ground lead to.  Of course you can always put in your own BHL (Big Huge 
Lug).

Rob Atkinson
K5UJ

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