Sidebar Sidebar
  • You can now help support WorldwideDX when you shop on Amazon at no additional cost to you! Simply follow this Shop on Amazon link first and a portion of any purchase is sent to WorldwideDX to help with site costs.

Base station grounding

The ARRL book is very clear. Here's an excerpt:

The National Electrical Code requires
lightning protection ground rods to be
separate from the power line safety
grounding electrodes. As discussed later,
however, all grounding systems must
eventually be bonded together.
...
In most stations, dc ground and RF
ground are provided by the same system.
If you install ground rods, however, bond
them to each other and to the safety ground
at the electrical service entrance.
...
Some think
that RF grounds should be isolated from
the safety ground system — that is not
true! All grounds, including safety, RF,
lightning protection and commercial communications,
must be bonded together in
order to protect life and property.
Click to expand...

There you go...cut and pasted straight from the ARRL CD.
 
I find it funny that you would need to tie the radio together with the antenna ground. I don't agree with that, for the simple fact that if my antenna gets hit by lightning I would not want to take a chance of it traveling to my radio. It is much cheaper to replace the antenna. I do believe that all components IE: Amps.radio etc. should be grounded to the same ground and that the antenna should be grounded separately.
 
Remember, lightning takes the shortest path to ground. The idea is that the current would go to ground, not into the shack. But we don't get much lightning around here....maybe someone with experience in a lightning zone has some first hand experience....
 
Shortest path to ground? Maybe, maybe not. True story here. I had an aunt who has since passed away who would NOT stay off the phone, even during a thunder storm. Repeated warnings about lighting coming into the phone,from my Uncle Mick(who read the warning verbatium from the phone book) were ignored. You guessed it. The pole (which by the way was grounded) near their rural home here in the mountians took a hit while Aunt Betty was on the phone. The jolt was enough to singe the hair from her head near the ear piece. It didn't knock her out but from then on when the distant rumble of thunder was heard the "party line" on route 259 was dead quiet.
 
agrees on seperate grounds for antenna and radio. definatley not to plumbing or electric house grounds. keep everything seperate.

new code here is to also use 2 seperate ground rods for ever run you make. .such as on house electric, plumbing and phone cable or any external lights such as outside lighting ect. like street type external lighting or backyard lights.
Example : from antenna to 1st ground rod then from ground rod one to ground rod2.


FL lightning capitol of north america :)
allthough im lazy and dont do any of the above hehehe
 
Thats what I thought of doing but, I was afraid of tying in the radio ground with the antenna ground. By the way good job on the contest last month
 
Anybody remember this episode of the Munsters, check my profile pic. I came across it on the net somewhere. LOL
 
At commercial broadcast sites we bond the TX ground to the antenna ground and then bond the AC power ground to the same point.With two separate grounds there is the possibility that the two grounds will not be at the same voltage potential in the event of a strike.I have a 300 foot tower atop a 700 foot hill overlooking the Bay of Fundy that is well grounded at the base and the transmission line is grounded to the same point where it enters the building.The line is grounded again just inside the building at the same point the AC ground is attached.The transmitters,two of them,are connected to this same ground.All grounding is done with four inch wide solid copper strap.Even the equipment rack and RF combiner is grounded to the same point.This is the way we do things and we have to protect a $400,000 investment.The AM sites are the same way.The TX ground is a heavy copper strap the exits the building and connects to the main antenna radial system.This is with 225 foot towers in a big open field.I'll go with the single ground when possible.It could be a bit hard to do however if your antenna is an 80m 1/4 wave vertical 200 feet from the house but that is a differant story. :?
 

dxChat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.


      Top Bottom
      Back