[TowerTalk] Bonding to perimeter ground question

[Jim Brown]

On Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:09:39 -0400, John Schumacher wrote:

>Hello all:

>I am in the process of establishing my station at my new QTH.  The home has
>metal gutters, downspouts and a metal shingle roof.   This house was built
>in the late 60"s and the roof was installed about 10 years ago.

>Should I bond the roof, gutters, chain link fence to the perimeter ground?

First, don't think of this as a perimeter ground. Your objective is to 
establish a ground plane for THE ENTIRE HOUSE, and ideally EVERYTHING 
conductive should be connected to it (except, of course, power and the "hot" 
conductors of signal wiring). This is your building ground. It's your power 
ground, your shack ground, your telco, CATV, ground, EVERYTHING. 

>How about the copper water pipe system using the outside spigot (currently
>the cable TV,phone, internet box is grounded to the spigot)

ABSOLUTELY YES. 

>and the heat exchanger? 

The frame MUST BE GROUNDED. 

>I am already bonding masts, feedlines, using lightining
>arrestors, and using a single point ground.

Why are you discussing this DIFFERENTLY from all those other grounds? They 
must ALL BE BONDED TOGETHER BY THE SHORTEST PRACTICAL PATH. The fundamental 
objective is to make them the same point. 

>One interesting thing is that I cannot locate the electrical utility ground
>rod. It's not near the meter or the service panel. The house does have a 3
>conductor (romex) electrical system.

Bond the chassis box holding the electrical panel to the building ground. 

> I have researched this list and have done extensive reading of the
>Polyhaser and other sources.  Some of the information is contradictory.

A lot of what is written in the popular press, INCLUDING ham publications, 
about grounding is incorrect. Much of what is wrong is folks going off on 
tangents misunderstanding what is meant by catch phrases like single point 
grounding. 

I think it was K4SAV who made an excellent post on this a few months back. Use 
the search function for the Tower Talk list. 

73, Jim K9YC