Great idea. That provides a super nice lightning rod to effectively feed all
lightning strikes to your AC house system and I'm sure a few amps of it will
decide to divert through your Omni 6+ on it's way to the AC ground.
Steve Ellington
N4LQ
-----Original Message-----
From: Bob & Linda McGraw K4TAX <RMcGraw@InfoAve.Net>
To: Steve Ellington <n4lq@iglou.com>
Cc: Larry <ac5ez@webtv.net>; TenTec@contesting.com <TenTec@contesting.com>
To: <tentec@contesting.com>
Date: Friday, March 23, 2001 11:01 PM
Subject: Re: [TenTec] ground
>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
>>
>> --
>> FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/tentec
>> Submissions: tentec@contesting.com
>> Administrative requests: tentec-REQUEST@contesting.com
>> Problems: owner-tentec@contesting.com
>>
>> --
>> FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/tentec
>> Submissions: tentec@contesting.com
>> Administrative requests: tentec-REQUEST@contesting.com
>> Problems: owner-tentec@contesting.com
>
>
--
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