[TowerTalk] Shack to service entrance ground

[K8ZM]

Here is a poor no-scale sketch......hopefully it will come through
proportionally....

1)  Shack is at opposite side of house from service entrance, tower is at
rear corner of back yard
2)  All coax/control lines run through 4" PVC pipe 110 Ft long in a straight
line from Shack (X) to Tower (Z).
3)  Tower (Z) to Service Entrance (Y) is 100 Ft.
4)  Shack (X) to Service entrance (Y) is 120 Ft following the rear perimeter
of the house
5)  Tower has (3) ground rods, (1) at each leg, none tied back to service
ground (yet)
.
.
 
Z=Tower 
.
.
.
.
.
.									
.
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__X____________________________________________
|Shack Entrance					|
|							|
|							|
|			House				|
|							|   Service Entrance
|_____________________________________________|_Y____
					|			|
					|			|
					|            Garage
|
					|			|	
					|___________________| 
					I			 I
					I			 I
					I	Driveway	 I
					I			 I

-----Original Message-----
From: TowerTalk <towertalk-bounces at contesting.com> On Behalf Of Jim Brown
Sent: Friday, August 18, 2023 7:22 PM
To: towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Shack to service entrance ground

On 8/18/2023 4:00 PM, Lux, Jim wrote:
> OK - you're in sort of an interesting situation, because your "shack 
> ground" electrode isn't part of the required grounding for your house
> - that is, it's not a supplemental grounding electrode.
> 
> Nor is it part of a lightning grounding/dissipation system, so all 
> those rules don't matter.

There absolutely IS a requirement that all grounds in a premises be bonded
together. If power is fed from one building to another, there must be an
earth electrode in the second building, bonded to the panel (but NOT bonded
to neutral in the second building IF ground is carried from the first
building). Until 10-15 years ago, NEC did not require ground to be carried
between buildings, and my property was built that way. It was subsequently
modified to require that ground be carried, but existing installations are
grandfathered.

The only thing about which I'm uncertain is conductor diameter. It's always
been good engineering practice, especially where antennas are involved, for
buildings to have a perimeter ground, with rods at various points around the
perimeter. AT&T's Long Lines sites were built that way, and Ward recommends
it in his book. I use a half-perimeter ground in the building that houses my
shack; a cement patio is in the way of full perimeter. There are about 8
rods spaced along it, at the panel, and outside the shack near my coax entry
panels.

73, Jim K9YC


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