[TowerTalk] Grounding System

[Phil Camera]

I'll chime in please.


"Seems to me that a tower located 200' from the house is a different
animal than one attached to the house."


I would agree but it wouldn't hurt to connect the tower ground to the SPG; it's a risk based decision.  Not such thing as being too grounded.


"But for the distant tower, shouldn't the strategy be to 
dissipate the charge as far from the house as possible? "


Huh?  Every tower should have ground radials 75 feet long with rods every 2X their height for every tower leg. 


"Single point ground isn't possible, at great distances, anyway."


Huh? again.  See statement above.
  

Has anyone else used RF chokes on the cable runs


Bad bad bad.  Not recommended and doesn't do diddly.  See below.


, to limit strike currents from flowing on them, allowing the tower's ground system to dissipate the charge?  


The way you do this is to bond the coax shield to the tower at least at the base of the tower (and up top if you choose).  This is how you help get that energy off the coax into the tower ground.

Personally I have a tower 60 feet from the house and another tower 60 feet further away from the first tower.  Both towers' ground systems (one per leg as described above) are connected to each other ( no harm in sharing) and yes I have a #4 bare solid conductor running from the close-in tower to the SPG system.

One poster mentioned a concern if I was directing the strike/surge energy towards the house.  Well, I guess yes I am but when it gets to the SPG it will encounter three more rods and then the #4 bare solid wire which attaches to the SPG and routes around the house to the electrical entrance ground.

Lightning energy really wants to go to ground, in the worst way.  My energy will have all these opportunities to get to ground and I've never had a problem and have evidence of being struck and evidence of a large induced current from a nearby.  Never disconnect and never have had a problem.

Oh, the ground wire connecting between the tower and the house has a couple of rods along it's length but not every 2X.

I also have a tower 400 feet away.  It's rotator power wiring uses 10 Ga. UF (outdoor romex).  The wire I purchased was two conductor with a separate ground (10 Ga.).  I did connect that third unused wire to that far tower ground and to the SPG.  Probably doesn't do anything but won't/hasn't hurt.  Oh and that far tower does have 75 foot long ground radials for each leg also.

Phil  KB9CRY