[TowerTalk] Station Ground

[Floyd Sense]

Many folks make the assumption that the station is going to be somewhere 
near where the common ground entry point is for the cables, power, 
telephone, etc.  In my case, the station is, by necessity, 70 cable feet 
from that point.  The cables run through a crawlspace where they come in 
close proximity to metallic ductwork, etc.  The Polyphaser people 
recommended a second common ground at the equipment site, i.e., bonding the 
various pieces together to a common buss.  Is it your belief that it's 
unnecessary to have that second common ground in that case?

K8AC

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Frank Donovan" <donovanf at erols.com>
To: <towertalk at contesting.com>
Sent: Friday, January 14, 2005 8:48 PM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Station Ground


> You should focus your efforts on designing and constructing a low
> impedance grounding window at the location where your cables
> enter your home.  All cables entering your home should be bonded
> to the grounding window either directly or through suitable lightning
> protection devices.
>
> There is no need whatsoever for any further grounding of your station
> equipment, other than the green wires from your equipment to your
> AC power receptacles.
>
> 73!
> Frank
> W3LPL
> donovanf at erols.com
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: N6KJ <n6kj at yahoo.com>
> To: <towertalk at contesting.com>
> Sent: Friday, January 14, 2005 7:44 PM
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Station Ground
>
>
>> At the moment, my rig and amplifier ground lugs
>> are not connected to anything.  I have no stray
>> RF problems or RFI that I am aware of (except a
>> little bit of TVI when operating 40/80 which I've
>> never been able to solve).  The manufacturer always
>> says you should connect up the ground lug.  So far, I
>> have not done that but I WILL do it if-and-only-if
>> it doesn't make things worse.  My assumption is that
>> the ground lug is there for a reason Maybe this is a
>> bad assumption, but ....
>>
>> The primary reason for my questions today is:
>> I am going to start on a home addition soon.  As of
>> today, my rig is located in the basement next to an
>> outside wall.  I can easily get to a ground rod
>> that is located only about 5 feet from my
>> rig.  This will no longer be true once the addition
>> is built.  Once the addition is built, my rig
>> will still be in the basement but the wall will
>> no longer be an outside wall, SO if I ever want a
>> good ground system with a short connection to ground
>> then I need to do it now.  I don't have to hook it
>> up to my rig/amp, but I have to at least drive in
>> the ground rods and run a wire from the ground rods
>> into the shack.
>>
>> I'm not worried about safety ground.  I can use the
>> existing safety ground OR add one later, but a good
>> RF ground needs short leads to ground and that means
>> building the grounding network NOW.  I think I now
>> have enough info from everyone to do that.  Thanks.
>>
>>
>> --- Jim Lux <jimlux at earthlink.net> wrote:
>>
>> > At 01:39 PM 1/14/2005, you wrote:
>> > >How do people attach their rigs to a bus-bar (or
>> > >similar)?  The bigger the ground wire the better,
>> >
>> > WHy would you necessarily want a huge wire?  How
>> > much current do you expect
>> > to be carrying through that wire?  Hopefully not
>> > much. Sure, bigger is
>> > (slightly) lower inductance, but presumably, the
>> > wire is fairly
>> > short.  Also, is the rig chassis ground common with
>> > the power supply return
>> > (if 12V powered)?  What about the electrical safety
>> > ground (the greenwire
>> > ground)?
>> >
>> > [ Stuff Deleted ]
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>> See: http://www.mscomputer.com  for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless
> Weather Stations", and lot's more.  Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with 
> any
> questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
>>
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> _______________________________________________
>
> See: http://www.mscomputer.com  for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless 
> Weather Stations", and lot's more.  Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with 
> any questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
>
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