[TowerTalk] Grounding Rod Lenght

[Jim Lux]

From: "Alan Beagley" <AB2OS at att.net>


> At what point does one bond the lightning and RF grounds to the utility
> company's ground? I have read "at the service entrance panel"; does that
> mean I have to bring a conductor from the lightning/RF grounds into the
> building to connect to the ground bus in the panel, or can I clamp it to
> the conduit (after scraping down to bare metal) that comes out of the
> ground and up to the meter, or to the conduit leading from the meter
> into the panel (more difficult because all that is accessible outside
> the building is a fitting with no flat service allowing for convenient
> clamping)? Or . . . ?


Get the LV grounding guide from the Mike Holt web site.. it covers all this
stuff in detail.

Clamping lightning grounds is a no-no... exothermic bonding (welding with
thermite (as covered in detail over the past few weeks on this list) is the
preferred way)

>
> Also: I see no sign of a ground conductor from our recently installed
> DirecTV dish. I assume that this should have been grounded too?

Yes.. If they used multishielded coax, then the coax can serve as the
grounding conductor from the dish to the grounding block.  The grounding
block is typically a little aluminum casting with a couple or 4 F connectors
and a aluminum ground wire coming out of it. That ground wire is intended to
be hooked to a suitable lightning ground.

Check the installation.. (the Mike Holt guide covers this too)

If your installation isn't grounded, and someone else did it for you as a
business (i.e. you paid for an installation, or, you got one of those "buy
dish, get free installation" deals), call them up and demand (in no
uncertain terms) that they complete the installation in accordance with the
local codes.  If they give you ANY flack, call the city and the state
contractors license board up and put the heat on.  This is incredibly lame,
dangerous, and probably illegal.

If, I, as a ham doing my own work, want to put up an antenna and not deal
with lightning protection, I'm stupid, but it's my own darn fault if the
house burns down. If, I, as a businessman, put up an antenna, and don't
follow the rules, and the house burns down, I'm criminally negligent.

The dish antennas come with complete instructions which clearly cover the
grounding issue. The dish mfrs are no fools.


>
> Alan AB2OS
>
>