[TowerTalk] Comprehensive Grounding

[kb9cry at comcast.net]

-------------- Original message -------------- 

> Responding to Jim (but not sure which one!) -- 
> 
> You say 
> 
> "That's why I was thinking that coming up with a suitable peer-reviewed 
> document aimed directly at hams would be useful. Not an application 
> note from a mfr or sales oriented source; not that information from 
> PolyPhaser or ICE isn't useful, but they have an obvious orientation, 
> so you'd want independent backup." 
> 
> This rings a bell. We are _amateurs_, and while some of us are 
> engineers and scientists in real life, very few if any of us are 
> professionals when it comes to specialized subjects like grounding and 
> lightning protection. 
> 
> I observe that a lot of commercial and ham literature (PolyPhaser's 
> material and most everything on the web) have a lot more philosophy 
> than science. They say to do this and that but don't give references, 
> and they're not peer-reviewed. I can't find statistics about how well 
> their equipment has performed in real installations, certainly not for 
> hams. 
> 
> To develop a standard for grounding of amateur radio stations seems to 
> be beyond what our economically small hobby can support. Industry 
> practices for cell towers and similar installations may be the best 
> we'll ever get. Those facilities are quite standardized and are often 
> built from scratch. 
> 
> [If you want to convince me that a particular lightning protection 
> system - grounds, surge suppressors, etc. - is safe and effective, you 
> have to _test_ it under realistic conditions. We get anecdotes on 
> TowerTalk, but I don't know of any serious testing.] 
> 
> The problems of RF grounding and AC safety grounding are a little 
> easier, because you can easily experiment on the RF side (it only needs 
> to be good enough), and residential electrical codes help you with the 
> AC. 
> 
> Most of us install radios and antennas where we can, and we don't build 
> bonded metal buildings with controlled cable interfaces and all that. 
> What I want to know is how I can make the best installation in my 
> particular residence with my particular array of trees, utility lines, 
> etc. without spending too much money. It's never going to be easy to 
> use a standard developed for an industrial situation. 
> 
> So I end up with an _amateur_ installation, hopefully using enough of 
> standard practices that my station and I will survive the most likely 
> environmental threats. And with some luck, I will even be able to work 
> some DX. 
> 
> 73, Martin AA6E 
> 
> 
> > Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2005 20:07:21 -0800 
> > From: "Jim Lux" 
> > Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Comprehensive Grounding Tutorial on Web 
> > To: , "Jim W7RY" 
> > Message-ID: <003b01c50cca$867886a0$32a8a8c0 at LAPTOP152422> 
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" 
> > 
> > 
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "Jim W7RY" 
> > To: 
> > Sent: Sunday, February 06, 2005 7:14 PM 
> > Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Comprehensive Grounding Tutorial on Web 
> > 
> > 
> > > This is hardly comprehensive. 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > Lot's of details left. Other have also pointed this out. 
> > > 
> > > I would recommend a TIA/EIA document or similar. 
> > > 
> > > 
> > I suppose the problems with TIA/EIA or IEEE documents are the 
> > following: 
> > 
> > 1) Too much detail (nobody really wants to read a 200+ page 
> > document) 
> > 2) Not specific to ham applications (we're not grounding substations, 
> > nor 
> > cell towers, etc.) 
> > 3) They aren't available online for free (hams are cheap, and aren't 
> > about 
> > to pay $50 for the IEEE spec) 
> > 
> > 
> > That's why I was thinking that coming up with a suitable 
> > peer-reviewed 
> > document aimed directly at hams would be useful. Not an application 
> > note 
> > from a mfr or sales oriented source; not that information from 
> > PolyPhaser or 
> > ICE isn't useful, but they have an obvious orientation, so you'd want 
> > independent backup. (No "NASA bought Static-Cats, so they must work" 
> > nonsense) With a suitable bibliography and references to look up 
> > more info, 
> > etc. 
> > 
> > Preparing such a thing would be a lot of work... 
> > 
> > > 
> > > 73 
> > > Jim W7RY 
> > > 
> > 
> > 
> _______________________________________________ 
> 
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> 
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