[TowerTalk] Radiating Lightning Rod

[Jim Hargrave]

   >-----Original Message-----
   >From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com
   >[mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com]On Behalf Of Jim Brown
   >Sent: Wednesday, June 03, 2009 3:16 AM
   >To: Towertalk
   >Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Radiating Lightning Rod

   >One CRITICALLY important thing I don't see in your post is that
   >ALL of those
   >ground rods must be bonded together by a very low impedance
   >path, and ideally
   >they should be bonded together outside your house. AND, they
   >must also be
   >bonded to the power system ground rod(s), again by a very low
   >impedance path.

Jim,

Sorry I left out the mentioning the AC Power grounding. The ground rod that
I installed before they poured the slab is the Power ground as well as my
common Radio ground. My AC power comes into the house underground from the
power pole, which is 190 ft from the house. The main power distribution
panel is directly above the ground rod and is attached with a 00 copper
wire. The slab re-enforcement steel is also bonded to this ground rod. All
of this is in the wall in the garage and is directly behind the radio
operating desk.

My radio ground buss is only about 8 ft long from the radios to the
grounding system. The wires from the power distribution panel to the Power
plugs on the wall behind the operating desk are only about 3 ft long. Each
piece of radio equipment and the computer system is all individually
grounded from the case to the main radio ground buss.

The AC power from the wall goes to a power distribution strip below the desk
through a dual stage filter/Surge protection box. My radio power supplies
and the computer are powered thru this filter system. The ground for this
radio AC power distribution system is isolated from the AC power ground and
goes directly to the main ground rod. The Clipperton-L linear amplifier is
the only radio equipment that plugs directly into the wall, however the amp
case is grounded to the main ground buss. I have never observed any ground
loops or tingling of the lips when I touch the D-104 mic..(:->.

I probably left something out again this time. Sorry for all the bandwidth.

   * 73's Jim W5IFP *