[TowerTalk] Rig on Second Floor - Grounding

[W6SX Hank Garretson]

At 11:32 AM 25 08 2007, D. Scott MacKenzie wrote:

>His bedroom/shack is on the
>second floor.  I have a simple 20M dipole (that we built) hanging off a tree
>near his window.

>How is the best way to achieve an RF ground?


At 09:02 PM 25 08 2007, Jim Brown wrote:

>You said you plan for him to use a 20M dipole. A dipole is a
>completely self-contained antenna -- the current flows from one
>half of the antenna to the other (and back). Ground is not in that
>path.


I suggest that the most important is to make sure the dipole is 
indeed "completely self-contained."  If you are using coax feed, you 
need a balun at the antenna feed point or you will have current on 
the outside of the coax and the antenna will not be balanced.  Or you 
can feed it with ladder line and use an antenna coupler in the shack.


73,

Hank, W6SX

Mammoth Lakes, California