[TowerTalk] Shack ground

[Gary Schafer]

Running a conductor from the ground pin of the outlets to the SPG will
accomplish little. The equipment should already be connected to the SPG
panel with a heavy conductor. The ground  pin of the outlet will be
connected to the  chassis of the equipment. Grounding the ground pin of the
outlet is useless unless the hot and neutral are also treated with
protectors.

The easiest way to provide proper AC line protection when the service panel
is not near the equipment/single point ground is to run  an AC line over to
the SPG panel, place protectors on the AC line right at the SPG panel and
power the WHOLE station from the AC line AFTER it goes to the SPG
panel/protectors. Protectors and AC ground lead connected directly to the
SPG panel.

That AC feed can come  from anywhere. It can come  from  an outlet across
the  room or  a line that you run directly from the power panel or from the
basement etc. The important thing is to only take power for the shack
equipment from the  power lead coming from the SPG panel where the AC line
is grounded/protected and antenna cables are grounded. Now they are all held
to the same  potential and very close to  a good ground. Assuming that you
have a very short low impedance conductor to your multiple ground rod/radial
ground system.


If the power, antenna cables and any other cables entering the shack do not
FIRST go the SPG pane then you  really don't have a single point ground
system.

73
Gary K4FMX

> -----Original Message-----
> From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com [mailto:towertalk-
> bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Pete Smith
> Sent: Wednesday, June 16, 2010 4:46 PM
> To: Tom Anderson
> Cc: w4lde at numail.org; TowerTalk
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Shack ground
> 
> What Jim (N3JT) did was to run short, heavy conductors from the ground
> pin of his shack outlets to his SPG panel.  I have a run of 3/4-inch
> copper pipe across the rear of my desk to within about 6 inches from my
> SPG panel.  I'm assuming I can ground from the shack outlets (2 x 110, 1
> x 220 to the pipe (near that end) and from the pipe to the panel.  I
> have some work to do on the integrity of my connections from the SPG to
> earth, but it has to be better than my house neutral.  Right now I'm
> measuring over 100 ohms from the ground pin of one of the outlets to my
> SPG.
> 
> 73, Pete N4ZR
> 
> The World Contest Station Database, updated daily at
> www.conteststations.com
> The Reverse Beacon Network at http://reversebeacon.net, blog at
> reversebeacon.blogspot.com
> 
> 
> On 6/16/2010 5:27 PM, Tom Anderson wrote:
> > Most grounding books and articles suggest tying the station ground to
> the power company ground, but what do you do if the power company ground
> is on the opposite side of the house from the shack?  In my case the power
> company ground is probably at least 50-60 feet away, maybe more, and any
> ground would have to go underneath a large patio and a driveway, just to
> reach the area.
> >
> > Tom, WW5L
> >
> >
> >
> > --- On Wed, 6/16/10, w4lde<w4lde at numail.org>  wrote:
> >
> >
> >> From: w4lde<w4lde at numail.org>
> >> Subject: [TowerTalk] Shack ground
> >> To: "TowerTalk"<towertalk at contesting.com>
> >> Date: Wednesday, June 16, 2010, 2:15 PM
> >> This maybe the wrong place to ask so
> >> excuse me for the bandwidth but:
> >>
> >> I have several ground posts just outside of the home
> >> connected together
> >> and then also tied to the house electrical panel ground
> >> system.
> >>
> >> Just inside the house and in the basement is a connector
> >> panel for coax
> >> and rotor lines also tied to the ground system.  From
> >> that system I have
> >> a #6
> >> run to the 2nd floor shack antenna tuner, about 25ft.
> >>
> >> All of my grounds terminate in the shack to the back of the
> >> antenna
> >> tuner used with a 80M zepp however, all of the equipment
> >> sits on a large
> >> metal desk which is also tied to the tuner ground point.
> >>
> >> Question:  Would I better off using the desk as a
> >> single point to
> >> connect all of the ground straps from the rigs and other
> >> devices
> >> including the Tuner and Ham PC, I have no RFI in the shack
> >> and it maybe
> >> a waste of time but I thought I get opinions?
> >>
> >> 73 de
> >> Ron W4LDE
> >>
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> >>
> >>
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