[TowerTalk] Station Ground

[Michael Tope]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Rauch" <w8ji at contesting.com>

> 
> If that lead through some error (almost certainly by a
> goofball at the local repair garage) somehow becomes
> unbol;ted from the very large bolt securing it,  the
> electrical system in your vehicle will generally be toast
> long before the radio has a problem. That's why you use a
> negative lead fuse in a mobile when grounding a radio
> (stupidly) directly to a battery post connection.
> 

Okay, I'll bite, Tom. Why is it stupid to run the negative 
lead from my rig directly to the battery? I did this in my 
truck. Is the main concern failure of the main chassis
to battery negative connection so that the rig power
return becomes the power return for the entire vehicle 
electrical system? I did fuse the negative lead. If I change 
this where should I connect the power return lead (its
easy enough to do)? Should I connect to any chassis metal 
near the battery, the engine block, or are you advocating 
that I only run one wire back to the battery from the rig 
and use the vehicle chassis as the power return?

Thanks, 

Mike, W4EF....................