Ask Michael, KB9VBR: Do I need to ground my portable (POTA) station?
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- Опубликовано: 6 апр 2024
- A viewer asks: I’m wondering what your thoughts are on running an RF ground from the radio to earth when operating portable or mobile.
I notice a lot of folks setup on a table or temporarily in a vehicle. No one seems to run a chassis-to-earth ground.
In this video, Joe and I talk about why grounding a portable station is not only unnecessary, but could be counterproductive.
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#Hamradio #AmateurRadio #POTA #ParksOnTheAir #PortableHamRadio #grounding #bonding #rfground #electricalground 
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Very well explained guys…everything powered to a AC outlet needs good grounding! Battery operation not… Hear thunder turn everything off, and bypass outside antennas to ground…always done it. Great video…Ne safe , cheers.
I looked for this answer for about a year when I first got licensed and no one addressed it directly. Thank you for your detailed explanation. I ended up assuming your answer,but it is nice to hear it from someone that actually understands the topic.
Many thanks for answering my question, and settling this issue for me!
Dayton is looking for presentations. You two should do a live Q&A.
Amen!!!! My ATAS 120 is benefitting greatly from the work I did under my truck!
Maybe my exception is camp hosting where I am parked for 5-6 months at our USFS campground in the mountains. I install 1-2 8' grounding rods bonded together, plus saltwater solution to help the poor conductivity of the Rocky soil. Connected to the ground rod is the solar array, the 25' cell Yagi (Log Periodic), generator, & RV. On the cell pole is a lightning arrester with N-connectors. Next to our host campsite was a 15-acre lake located at the mouth of a box canyon. Our 65 DB cell amp was registered with the FCC/Verizon & never had an issue with lightning transients. None of our GMRS or Ham handheld or mobile radios were grounded specifically. Communications are difficult out there, but hail & lightning show up most summer afternoons, lol. Cheers, Davey --KU9L
My initial reservation is that multiple grounds would be prone to current loops, particularly at RF.
Hi Michael,
Good grounding rods a must along with lighting protection. In Electrical storm conditions I always disconnect antennas and the computer and radios.
Due mobile operators if there’s an electrical storm anywhere with 50-60 miles it’s time to go inside.
I have seen, in Texas, where people were killed by lighting strike 80 miles away. The USAF have excellent information regarding lightning and its hazards for those outside in large flat country.
Here in VK land lighting is a very dangerous phenomenon that kill stick and a few folks each year.
Serious stuff, don’t risk it, be safe
Absolutely good information!
Also you should not have a separate ground rod connected to the radio if its not connected back to the power panel ground for the house! You don’t want a nearby lighting strike to raise the potential of the chassis to a higher value than the power panel ground. Both ground rods need to stay at the same potential or bad things happen!
This^
very good. I am in NY . the outher thing grounding did for me is reduce static build up from antenna during heavy snow and wind . making very high noise floor. bonding and grounding at home reduced my noise floor buy a lot. the single point ground in the shack to ground rod bonded out side to power ground rod did the most good for my noise floor. portable just the counterpoise is all I needed either the coax as counterpoise or wires on ground. either way works. but for the RF what you need to do is choke that coax either at antenna or radio depending on counterpoise . and choke DC power cable and USB to laptop for digital modes . works great for me. choke all cables to radio. even got a snap ferrite on mic and ext. speaker. even the solar panel and MPPT charge controller. choke it all but putting ferrite on leads. either wrap a toroid like FT 240-31 or use the snap ferrite type 32 mix. that solves the RF . no ground rod needed . 73's
The exhaust pipe is actually electrically connected to the body or frame of the car, although it is not a very good connection. Its better to bond it locally to the car's frame at each section.
We unplug most of our electrical items when there's bad thunderstorms... Old school technique... It works.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this explanation.
Darn! Up until now anyway after seeing this, at the State Park when operating portable, I've been driving a pair of six foot stakes, one in front of the car just off to the side of the road, and one behind the car, also just to the side of the road, and attaching wires to the frame (and not just the bumper!) of the car, and as I move forward, I have been pulling up the rear grounded rod, and moving that to the 😂front, and just repeating the process. I started doing this after the ranger told me not to use the guardrail, which I was using (after grounding the guard rail itself with two six foot copper rods at either end) before with extra long (4 gauge) jumper cables that I had split apart to use especially for this purpose, as that was IMO so much easier, but what are you going to do? So I complied, but it takes a long time to move, with all of that stake pounding and then pulling them back up. Additionally, I've had more than a few other campers give me The Stink Eye especially when I start hearing thunder, because at that point, I just put the vehicle in park right there and then, and use BOTH of the ground rods, until the sky turns blue again. I've TRIED to EXPLAIN this to the people behind me by being polite and using the "Three R's" (Let's be Right, Reasonable, and Rational) but I think that they just don't like Ham operators, or maybe it's just me?🤣 All the Best! 73 DE W8LV BILL
Lightning Protection can work as an (FE) Functional Earth or RF Grounding. But never the other Way around. Tnx for the Video. 73 de Uncle Günter 🙋♂
Doesn't bonding/ RF grounding also help to bleed off static and other man made interference?
I have seen guys ground their radio to their water pipe in the basement and their static noise is lowered.
My word is my bond, or ground, depending on the applicable part of NFPA 70. 😊
It seems to help attenuate noise for improved clarity, but maybe that's just a placebo effect. I often do have other noisy devices like inverters and power regulators and lighting and usb power adapters and a laptop and cellphone, so that could be part of it too. This doesn't seem to have been addressed by the "Ted Talk." 😅 Cheers.
Bonding will help reduce noise in the car
RF ground ?
How about an earth ground for dissipating static from a kite deployed antenna?
That's a very specific use case were a ground would be advantageous
@@KB9VBRAntennas Thank you for the follow up!
73, w3rrm
Lightning is overrated… ask Ray Caldwell, former Cleveland Indians pitcher.