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Base station grounding

R

RI126

Guest
I am setting up my base station, I have a President Lincoln radio and a IMAX-2000 antenna. Here is my question....
My antenna is on a mast mounted to my chimney, Do I run a ground wire from the mast or from the antenna itself. Secondly, I know I'm suppose to also ground the radio( using a smaller guage wire I think) but, where do I connect the ground wire to the radio? and do I run the radio ground wire to the main ground wire coming off the antenna? Third, the main ground wire is going to be between 10-15 feet away from the radio, Do I need to keep the radio ground wire shorter? or is the length going to be OK?
 

RI,

Ground connected to mast is fine, make sure you have a good physical connection and the ground wire is as straight as possible down to the ground rod.

Connecting a ground to the radio can be achieved by using one of the mounting bracket holes and its screw. Use a washer or two with the ground wire to keep the mounting screw from going in too far into the chasis and possibly touching the board and maybe shorting out something.



You are correct in keeping the ground as short as possible. It does not need to be connected to the same ground as the antenna.
See linked pics for examples.

HR2510 ground connection.

station ground

ground wire with standoffs

Once at the page and the pic comes up, click on "View Full Size" for a sharper contrasting image.
 
to add to what Wayne said...you actually do NOT want to share a ground, 2 reasons for this....1-you want to keep all leads as short as possible, 2-the ground from the ant will be serving as a path to ground if lightning were to strinke..og connected to the radio as well..you'll be ordering a new radio...
 
thanks for the info Wayne. I will hopefully be setting up soon. And to you Bcrewcaptain thanks also.RI126 alias smrtn290 OUT
 
I grounded my radio today using 10 guage stranded cable using one of the mounting bracket holes. I ran the wire through a board that I put in the window so as not to drill holes into the side of my house. This I thought was a good idea, I got from one of the forums. I hope 10 guage will be fine. The ground wire is around 4 feet long and attached to a ground rod 8 feet into the ground just below the window. I put a ground wire at the base of the chimney and I'm planning on using 6 guage solid copper wire. Will that be adequate or should I use 4 guage? Just waiting on my coax which will be in this week. I'm not sure how to connect the ground to the IMAX antenna because of the way the mounting bracket is. I'm thinking of running the ground wire through both of the mounting brackets on the antenna. Or do you think connecting them to the mast will be adequate. If going to the mast I most likely will have to scrape off some paint.
 
thanks, should I take off the paint on the bottom of the mast or will the connecter make enough contact?
 
Just one thought: Doesn't the national electrical code require there to be only one ground path on a house, whether it's for electrical, rf, or lighting? If you have more than one ground, I thought code requires them to be tied together? Or am I wrong?
 
I'm not sure. I was told that the antenna should be grounded separately from the radio so if the antenna gets hit, it won't fry the radio. Is this wrong.
 
RI126 said:
I was told that the antenna should be grounded separately from the radio so if the antenna gets hit, it won't fry the radio. Is this wrong.
Click to expand...

RI126,

Keep the grounds separate to avoid what is known as a ground loop situation. If your antenna does get hit by lighting, yes, it will fry the radio. If you want to protect the radio from lighting then you can install a lighting arrestor inline with the coax. Bear in mind the antenna is a conductor and if it gets hit the charge will of course travel down the mast to the installed ground attached to the mast. The charge will also be incontact with the coax and it too is a conductor and the charge will travel along it as well to your equipment. My grounding system also includes as separate length of coax that I have connected to yet another ground rod that I can connect my antenna coax to, in the event of storms. Don't just disconnect it and leave it lay. In my research of grounds and grounding I came across a story where this was done. In the story, lightening actually hit an antenna, upon which the operator immediately went into to the room where the equipment was located and witnessed the slack end of the coax dancing about the room spitting fire! Granted, if I forget to disconnect prior to the prediction of anticipated storms my equipment is in jeopardy. I will probably at some point install a inline arrestor, but for now I'll just disconnect the antenna from the radio and connect it to the separate ground.

As far as code goes I'm not sure about the single ground issue. Some have used a connection to the cold water line in their home as a ground. I have read that this is not a good idea in RF grounding regarding pubilc water systems because stray RF can actually travel along the line to your neighbors leading to RFI problems.

My apologies for the rambling, but I hope this helps a little.

73's!!
 
Your ramblings are fine. I am one of those people who crave knowledge. I have asked many questions in the past few weeks and have recieved many good answers from people who certainly know more than I do. This has helped me a great deal and I thank everyone who has helped. Of course there is alot more to do as I aquire more equipment but, for now I am atleast set up with the basics and off to what I consider a great start. Thanks again. If you think of anything else that could help don't hesitate to let me know. In the mean time look at my web album when you get the chance and let me know what you think. RI126

http://community.webshots.com/user/smrtn290
 
When I get home from traveling (in Phoenix for work for a couple days), I'm going to look this up in the ARRL book. I know there's a section on station grounding....
 
OK, I looked it up. Chapter 3 in the latest ARRL handbook is all about station setup and safety. There is an extensive section on station grounding. As we've discussed, there are three types of grounds: Lightning ground/protection, house electrical ground, and RF ground. The recommendation is to use multiple ground rods: The house should already be grounded at the electrical box, a ground rod close to the shack for RF ground, and a ground rod close to the antenna for lightning.

However, it is very clear in the text that the National Electric Code requires that ALL GROUND RODS must be tied together, preferably with 6 guage wire. The exception would be if you use a tower that is not attached to the house. In that case, it can have it's own ground system. It even goes so far to explain that it is unsafe not to have the grounds tied together.
 
however I would assume that for the NEC though it it referring to POWER wiring thru a house and making no reference to radio systems and such correct?
I know and understant why the elec grounds would be shared, however it still seems foolish to want to tie the rest of the grounds together in the radio system.
 

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