[TowerTalk] Fwd: Coax entry panel -- inside or outside?

[Jim Brown]

On 7/6/2019 9:37 PM, Hans Hammarquist via TowerTalk wrote:
>   The aluminum plate is connected to the tower with a 6-inch wide aluminum strip. The tower, very close to the shack, is grounded with 9 grounding rods
I hope that combination of grounds is also bonded to all other grounds 
in your home -- power, CATV, Telco -- and to your operating desk.
>   
>   
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rich Assarabowski <konecc at snet.net>
> To: towertalk <towertalk at contesting.com>
> Sent: Fri, Jun 28, 2019 9:13 pm
> Subject: [TowerTalk] Coax entry panel -- inside or outside?
>
> This is an age-old topic but maybe someone can offer some advice.  I'm
> starting to redo my basement which will also have the new shack.  In my
> previous station, I had replaced one of the basement single-pane glass
> windows with a piece of aluminum and had a bunch of feedthroughs for the
> coax.  It was grounded to the outside ground system by a short piece of
> heavy copper cable.  I never liked that solution as the connectors outside
> were exposed to the weather and there was no provision for any Polyphasers.
>
> I'm looking at the KF7P entrance panel boxes (see
> http://www.kf7p.com/KF7P/EntrancePanels.html) which are an elegant way to
> bring in coax.  I've got a new spot identified where I could mount such a
> box.  It would be directly outside the shack on an outside wall, close to
> ground level.
I did something quite similar that I built with the help of W6GJB's 
workshop. It's mounted just as you suggest above.   Photos and details 
are at k9yc.com/CoaxEntryPanel.pdf  I've abandoned Polyphasers in favor 
the those sold by Array Solutions, both because I like the circuit 
better and because the GDTs are field replaceable. With Polyphaser, you 
get to buy (and install) a new unit.
> However, there's another option which is more appealing to me.  It would be
> to mount a big aluminum plate (or copper-sheet clad plywood) in the same
> location except it would be inside the house, rather than outside in an
> enclosure.  The coax would come into the house directly to the plate, with
> Polyphasers and all the other antenna switching and filtering mounted on
> that plate on the 2x4 wall, just above the foundation.  That would
> eliminate the need for the big outside steel box and would have everything
> at the single-point grounding location.  There would be a short ground
> connection from the plate back outside to a ground rod, which is part of the
> perimeter ground rod system and is also tied to the utility ground.
>
> Any issues with doing it this way?

The only issue I see is the short length of the conductor bonding coax 
shields inside the house.

73, Jim K9YC