I've said it before and I'll say it again. Please bond the AC line
ground and the station ground rod together with #6 AWG copper. The
current NEC (National Electrical Code) requires that all antenna
structures be bonded to the main AC ground. It will save a lot of grief
in the future should a near-by lightening stroke come near your house.
I fully support the use of a balanced feed antenna system. It keeps RF
from the shack and the rig. If you choose to use a coaxial fed antenna,
at least put a choke type balun at the antenna feed point.
73
Bob K4TAX
Steve Ellington wrote:
>
> Yes that is a bit unusual but maybe TenTec realized it serves no earthly
> purpose.
>
> I know I'll get a lot of flames for saying this but having 2 seperate ground
> systems (AC Line and Gnd Rod) serving the same appliance is really asking
> for trouble. This is certain to create a ground loop and when surges,
> spikes, and lightning occur then you can always expect a lot of needless
> current flowing between these grounds and right through your precious rig.
>
> I use a balanced antenna feeder which comes through the wall to a large
> double pole knife switch. This switch either connects the feeder directly to
> the tuner or directly to a heavy ground lead, 1/4" copper pipe. This ground
> is never connected to the rig. The rig is grounded through the AC line cord.
> Since I have a balanced antenna system there are no problems with RF on the
> rig.
> When I leave the shack or when storms are present, I pull the big switch and
> ground the antenna, not the rig. If I know a thunderstorm is coming, I
> unplug the rig from the AC line to protect it.
> Another source of ground loop is the telephone line which could be connected
> to your rig through your computer. This is not advisable.
> A lot of this old fashion ground theory comes from back in the days when
> hams used end fed Hertz antennas and the rig was actually part of the
> antenna system. In that case, you had to bond everything together and run a
> ground wire out to a good ground system. Also in those days there may have
> been no AC power anyway so you made your own ground.
>
> So remember, the important thing is to ground that skywire to keep charges
> from building up on it and keep that entire mess totally isolated from your
> rig, especially the ground! At the very least put a switch on your ground
> wire so you can disconnect it during storms.
>
> Steve Ellington
> N4LQ
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Larry <ac5ez@webtv.net>
> To: TenTec@contesting.com <TenTec@contesting.com>
To: <tentec@contesting.com>
> Date: Friday, March 23, 2001 8:16 PM
> Subject: [TenTec] ground
>
> My new 25amp tt ps dosent have a ground post .Being in the habit of
> grounding everything I was curious as to why Ten tec didnt put a ground
> post on the 25amp switching supply.
>
> K1zw
> Larry
> Qcwa
>
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>
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