How to Ground, Bond and Shield Ham Radio Shack - Patron's Pick - Livestream
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- Опубликовано: 27 сен 2024
- Well, the Patrons have spoken and want to hear about shack grounding, one of, if not THE MOST contested topics in ham radio. "Is it NEC compliant?", "Are my ground wires too long?", "What if I live on the 1,800th floor of an appartment?" - We'll talk about it.
References:
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www.arrl.org/s...
(Also my 2017 ARRL handbook)
The absolutely FANTASTIC grounding video by Dave KE0OG: • Station Grounding for ...
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10:47: Finally starts to cover the topic
14:13: Definitions
18:34: AC Safety Ground
20:30: Lightning Protection
24:08: Shack Ground
43:00: RFI/Shielding
54:28: Common Issues
59:20: Questions
Worth a pin!
My son and I finally got Technician license today!!!! After 2 years since I thought about getting Ham license (with lack of info with no internet and CW requirement, it was not easy task to get mindset to take the exam then). Now, we are waiting to get call sign from FCC, hopfully in a few days before we can get on the air.
My wife and the other son (twin brother of the one who got license today) got Technician license 9 months ago but I got too busy to take the exam until now.
We got 4 Baofeng, but will be shopping for couple of more durable HT and 1 mobile.
Another task remaining: getting my dad and mom to get ham license. They are going to go full time RV soon, visiting all the national parks. So, I thought getting them Ham licenses is a good idea.
Wow! That is great! Congrats. You have a legit ham radio family now!
Congrats. Welcome to the fun!
That 6 feet between ground rods is the minimum distance. Ideally, they should be spaced twice their length (16 ft. for 8 ft. rods). Ground rods spaced less than two rod-lengths apart will interfere with each other because their effective resistance areas will overlap. Using the 2X length for spacing will save you a lot of ground rods if you want to make a perimeter ground, or ground radials for a tower, for instance.
Is it the same distance between the rod of the shack, the antenna and the house? And if the house's ground is on the cold water pipe, how do you deal with that?
Remember to have utilities come mark the location of water and gas pipes and electrical lines before driving ground rods in.
This is a great point.
Hey everyone just a quick input about 4-5 years ago I lived in a high rise apartment building in south beach Florida and unfortunately I got put up on the 48th floor which was great for the height and all but couldn’t get a good ground for my antenna I actually ended up installing a set of 3 element beams yagi style onto a old direct tv dish mount that I added some length of mast to get my main boom out about 6-7 feet from my balcony and from the building and even tho I was mounted to the metal balcony railing I still couldn’t get a good ground so my vswr wouldn’t come down to where I’d like it, so I actually went to the hardware store and bought 100feet of solid 12ga wire and a few other tricky ideas I had, I then attached one end of the wire to my antenna mount and a short piece connected to my coax braid as well I then ran the wire inside the door wall and since the wire was solid I was able to bend it around corners and it was firm enough to stay in place but I ran that wire into my utility closet in my own apartment to where I then took some sand paper and scuffed up the cold water supply line under my utility sink which was also copper and then using a special kind of solid copper water pipe clamp that the hardware store guy recommended, I then also used the sand paper to scuff inside the clamp that would touch the water pipe, then attaching that clamp to the water line and then attaching the solid copper wire to the allowed part of the clamp my ground was now finished, the hardware guy told me that it always had to be grounded to the cold copper supply line only and that it would be an amazing ground basically because that cold water copper line would be ran throughout the entire 50 floors of the building and basically is attached to every single apartments cold water in the building before traveling down to the buildings basement and then going out of the building underground probably around 25 feet beneath the buildings basement floor and then attached to the city’s supply, all I know is that once I did all the connections I then went and extended my beams out as far away from the building as I could then checked my SWR again and it was prior at just under a 2.8 and now after adding my janky grounding system I checked it and it honestly helped adding that copper wiring I know had a 1.1 on 26.1mhz and then on 28.545 it was a little higher of about a 1.28 a little later that night I made my very first contact from Miami floridas south beach location to a operator over across the pond in wales and then everyone jumped in I heard Cuba, British Virgin Islands, another from Tortola, Hawaii,pureto Rico , all over Canada,South Africa I made over 100 contacts that first night I was so impressed of the power of my HR2510 was reaching other stations all over the world that I actually got in trouble with the wife that night and had to sleep on the couch I didn’t care that just meant I could stay up making more contacts……..So yeah everyone GROUNDS do help out Tremendously…..I now have found a grounding system that car audio guys use in competition cars they refer to it as three points of grounding but this grounding is for the power side of things but it does help as well in a mobile radio set-up ……sorry but I got long winded telling my story 73’s to you all !!!
A ground is not a return path for a broken neutral. Broken neutrals cause voltage spikes up to 240v in a 1ø system. Grounding is only a safety protection for current faults.
Mind you I have a 1kw AM broadcast transmitter in the building but I had hell with RF and grounding. Part of it is the 80 year old shunt fed tower with an 80 year old ground plane. I finally got rid of most of it by using a 4" solid copper strap and buried it in a trench ringed around the building, The ground is like concrete clay and rocks. I welded that to a strap welded to the tower base, generator, all the power panels and big copper plates with terminal screws in all the studios and racks where every last component has its own braided strap to the terminals. At least now I don't get burned and its not in everything. Can't walk around with a blinking fluorescent bulb in my hands any more. If it does kick up they have to turn the sprinklers on and wet the ground. That said I have ferrite cores, ceramic caps, chokes, isolation transformers you name it. The WiFi company on my towers was getting blasted with RF bad enough it was derating the network connections down to 100mbps or worse. Eventually getting rid of the 100s of feet of armored network cable for fiber and the short runs of ethernet up top has 3 snap on ferrites spaced an inch apart on each end and now its fine. I also heard bad grounding can compromise your tower especially the guy wire anchors. Ground the wires before the anchors and make sure to inspect it often (our towers are in cow pastures and they rub on them) because I am told eventually the charge will eat the metal away and you risk having a tower come crashing down.
Really good video on the topic. I just battled a ground loop issue with my shack, with my Icom 7300 and Heil Pro 7 IC headset... terrible RF when I would transmit. Ferrite chokes helped but it never got fixed until I discovered a ground loop caused at the RS-35M power supply. (and presumably would happen with any power supply made today) As you stated, the station single point ground should not be directly tied to the house ground (3rd connection on the wall outlet) in the shack. However, the power supply had an internal house ground connection to DC (-), and I'd run a ground wire from the chassis of the power supply (house ground) to the station ground. Both connections contributed to the ground loop. I removed the internal wire in the power supply from house ground to DC (-), (there are instructions online for doing that) and removed the ground wire I had installed from the power supply chassis to the station ground. This solved the RF problem, but creates a risk of voltage differences between house ground/power supply chassis and station ground in the event of a lightning strike (safety hazard). This was solved by connecting the station ground rod to the utility ground rod outside as required by NEC. With the ground rods connected together (#6 bare wire minimum, buried outside), the safety problem is also solved. thanks, Matt AC1KO
39:45 The 3rd prong is automatically connected to your buss bar/station ground because they are both connected to the chassis of the radio/tuner/amplifier.
And power supply, and your ground rod via your coax it's all BS
You can decouple your AC ground from your shack ground, and a less scary option is to at least decouple your AC ground from your DC ground, inside of your power supply. But, I'm just a guy on the internet.
True, when installing a ground rod, a DEMO hammer rules. Forget about 'hydraulic drilling' (like a butter churn) or fence post hammers. I drilled 3 10' ground rods today and it took 1hr and 15 minutes from picking up the hammer and returning it to HD which is located 5 miles from my QTH. Way easy! And this was into the ice age till (broken rocks, clay, sand, shells and half of Alaska) left over that is common in the Pacific Northwest.
Do they have the fitting that will adapt to the ground rod as well for the hammer drill. I just put one in via hydraulic drilling and water, not fun...
I had 3/4" copper pipe extra from a house job, I used an 8-foot section as my shack bonding bar. From there a copper sheet strap from the bus bar to an 8/ foot copper rod just outside the shack. That external gnd. rod is connected with #6 copper wire to the house power ground rod.
Thank you for the demo hammer tip. I dug trenches for bonding wire yesterday by hand and just wasn't up for more intense labor today. It took me less than fifteen minutes to set up and move a step ladder, drive two eight foot rods and repack the hammer for return to Home Depot. WRWW748
The National Electrical Code definitions of grounding and bonding are:
Bonded (Bonding).
Connected to establish electrical continuity and conductivity.
and
Grounded (Grounding)-also called Earthing-
Connected (connecting) to ground or to a conductive body that extends the ground connection.
Grounding and Earthing are two different words that refer to the same thing, and are there for purposes of lightning protection. Current always looks to return to its source, which-in the case of lightning-is the earth.
Bonding, on the other hand, is to aid in the quick action of overcurrent protective devices in the case of overloads, short circuits, and faults. This allows the current a guaranteed , low impedance return path back to the source for your home’s electrical system, which is the transformer that feeds your home. Both systems are bonded together so that if any part of your home’s electrical system were to be struck by lighting, it would provide a safer path to ground than through other objects or people inside the home. You ground (earth) your antennas for lightning protection, but the antennas are bonded to your radio to reduce RF interference. Your radio, through the power supply, is bonded to your home electrical system to prevent serious damage to life or property in the event of a fault of some kind.
Stewart KK7DIN, Journeyman Electrician.
Would a power supply be providing the ground though if the transformer is isolating?
Good morning and greetings from India.
To cut holes in concrete, I use an sds plus hammer drill. The sds plus hammer doesn't work as well if you have lots of rock or caliche.
I will be using the 20lb demo hammer like frank the tank used.
I could dig out all the rock, but I don't know that it would be worthwhile.
Great info and a fun time!
Was doing ft8, but planning my new shack grounding setup!
I don't understand how you can run grounding wire less than 1/4 wavelength...when running on 70 cm, that means your coax AND the Bus Bar in your Shack would have to be within 18 cm of the ground rod. You'd need an awful small shack. Even the thickness of your homes wall could exceed that.
for any boat people who dont already know, nigel calders book BOAT OWNERS MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL MANUAL, has a section on SSB installation, specifying what type and size of ground plate to use and how to attach it. i imagine it would also apply to ham on a boat too. that book is worth EVERY DIME. might also be useful for weatherproof electrical systems. and a good section on lightning grounding a boat.
Mechanical bonding to the ground rod is okay but must be inspected yearly for loose bolts. Better is exothermic welding, DX Engineering carries the molds and welding powder for various size ground rods and numbers of wires. I always leave 6" of space at the top of the rod in case I need to add anther wire from a new tower or antenna. My towers have a ground rod(s) at the base plus one every 16'(twice the length of your ground rods) back to the single point ground.
Happy Independence Day!!! Had to miss this one. Got a second hand 7300 off QRZ in the mail, and now I'm cramming for the general, so very convenient timing for this topic. Also got some 12 awg wire for a dipole to start with.
@1:07:42 There is some mention about how to get ground rods into the ground. I managed to get mine in the ground using only water for the first 6 feet or so, then finishing it up with a sledgehammer. There are a number of very good videos on this on youtube, but I'll reiterate here. Get a big pitcher of water, or a gallon jug or whatever. Start trying to shove your ground rod into the ground. Pour some of the water out into the hole that you've just made and keep pushing the ground rod in and out of the hole, trying to go deeper each time. The water will help displace the soil and allow you to get your rod deeper. I managed to get mine most of the way in just by hand and with water, then i finished off the last bit with a hammer.
Trying to setup my initial shack and want to be safe about things. This was so informative and helpful from a newbs perspective. Thanks a bunch, Josh! 73 KJ7PNM
Awesome! I’m glad it helped.
I'm just starting on the stream and have one of those situations that you might not cover. I live in an upstairs apartment (above a business downtown). My electrical wiring is old enough that I have very few 3-prong outlets (and none are in the area where my "shack" is). Because of the situation, I have an indoor antenna. So, here's how I have my "grounding/bonding" set up. I have a ground terminal strip mounted on the metal edge of my workbench. From there, I have wires running to every radio, my tuner, and one power supply. The other power supply didn't seem to have a screw, but I will check it again.
Will this work? It *seems* like my SWR went down once I set up the grounding (at least on FT8). I should add that everything is plugged into a UPS system for AC Power.
Great Video, But I still have 2 questions. I have a simple setup, and a straight forward 2000sq foot house.. My breaker box that has a ground rod outside is at one end of the house. And my shack is at the other side, with some antennas close by. I have several ground rods that I want to drive in close to my shack for lightning & proper radio grounding. But I have 2 questions. I can drive 3 rods down near by and bond them together & and feed that ground to the lightening arrestors and into my shack to my radios … Question #1 do I connect those 3 ham shack ground rods to the nearest outlet 3rd prong ground inside my shack ? . Or do I only connect my radios to the shack ground, and leave the ham shack ground separate from the electrical 3rd prong ground ? Question #2 do these 3 ham shack ground rods need to be bonded to the original house ground rod.. that’s like 300 feet away around the other side of the house… How does everyone with a remote house shack operate ? They run hundreds of feet of ground wire from their shack/antenna ground rods to the breaker box ground rod ?? Wouldn’t connecting the shack ground rods to the 3rd prong ground inside the house be the same as running a 300 foot wire around the perimeter of the house to bond all the separated ground rods together… ? Much appreciate your feedback …
Very educating for me, a newbee
Where to get that beer, sounds amazing. If you can see through the glass Its not beer. Thanks. Your amazing
I know this is an old video, but I’m semi confused. I live in a city and my apartment is surrounded by 3 story buildings, so my antenna which I run as a “sloper” from my bedroom window to a short tree about 10m away about 3m in the air is not the tallest thing around. If that tree gets struck by lightning (wildly unlikely), or the antenna gets a direct strike (even less likely) would a lightning arrestor at the point where the antenna enters the window be enough to protect the shack, but more importantly protect me from getting hurt? We don’t get much lightning around here but we had a storm today and it got me thinking about it. I have my radio on the same desk where I work from home so I spend a lot of time in the “”shack”” whether I’m playing radio or not
For a single point ground, would aluminum work? Is there much difference between the conductivity between aluminum and copper?
My tower is about 75-100ft from my shack. It has a dedicated ground while my equipment is bonded to my steel building which is bonded to the ground that the slab was poured over. Should I be running a copper wire from my masts ground to my shacks ground? If so is 100’ too far? And how close can it be to my coax that I’m running to my shack?
How would I ground a power supply that doesn’t have a three-prong electric plug and no obvious ground lug?
I currently use an FT-818 with a Pyramid PS7KX power supply as my home station. EFHW antenna is grounded, so is shack, and they are bonded to house ground. Radio and ATU are grounded, PS is not.
Aluminum antenna raised and connected to Aluminum pole that goes into the ground should be considered grounded, right?
Josh, 1st AWESOME INFO SND YOU RELATED IT WELL. 2nd... Where you ever a Co-Mgr in a leading retail establishment in Las Vegas? If so... WOW!!! HI!!!
Lol, that was not me in Las Vegas. Thank you for the kind words.
1:00:09 The MFJ-4035mv has only 2 prong power plug! Hope that helps someone. ;)
Uruguay te escucha 👍
Do a single video about grounding when you reside in an apartment, and make sure to cover living on the ground floor and living on a floor at an upper level, like third floor
Please watch my video with Ward Silver.
Hey Josh. Its been 4yrs since your video and the "grounding your radio" is still a subject to controversy. I have recently come across some videos on YT from K8BYP and Jim W6LG that say never ground your radio EQ and coax shield to a ground rod. They say not just its dangerous but it is against US NEC code. Jim W6LG mentions that there are a lot of wrong information from AARL in their books about grounding that's never been addressed. The are situation where hams got hit indirectly by a light strike nearby with no coax connected to the radio, but the radio was connected with a ground wire to a ground rod that got surge from the ground up the shack. It would be nice if you can reach out to K8BYP and have him come out on the show and bust some myths.
YT wont let me post links in the comments but you should be able to find the videos
1. NEVER Ground Ham Equipment (DANGER) - K8BYP
2. How to RF Ground Your HF Station as Shown by the ARRL and a Discussion about Ground Loops, Bonding - Jim W6LG
Check out a video a few years back from HamRadioTv on the NEC code. I believe who he interviewed should be considered when discussing this.
@@HamRadioCrashCourse Will do. Thanks.
Very interesting vid. I've a couple questions. perhaps you can help me. 1- I don't know what you mean by "shack" hehe. 2- I live in an Apartment building (not a house) in the city, and I would like to get a clear assessment of how to ground my Antron 99 which will go out in the last fire escapes outer railing. At my front window I have a fire stick (for now) and I wasn't getting good reception until i tapped a ground wire to the mount which was attached to the window guard, and ran wire into the wall electrical outlets metal box. Then i was able to gain some reception. For the Antron 99 I thought of the same, but then wondered if clamping that 12ga ground around and to the steel radiator (which runs thru out the building) might be a better choice. I am also inquiring about the grounding of the rest of equip. ie; radio, PS, linear, if needed. I am not sure, which is why I ask. Thank you for your time. 73s, chaplain 833..
SM power supply's can trip GFCI as well.
This is just a FYI. info. I was doing an order on the Walmart site and saw this. I DID NOT ORDER IT! i just saw it and wanted to drop you a line about it. Radioddity QB25 Pro Quad Band Quad-Standby Mobile Ham
I live in a split level home in Minnesota. My shack is in the second bedroom and the a/c ground is outside the garage, the breaker box is in the garage. I have a MFJ Artificial Ground that I purchased. If I did drop a ground rod outside the shake, I would have to place multiple rods for 30 to 40 feet. So should I use the Artificial Ground and call it good?
Hello!
Unfortunatly I am the OH BOY guy, living in the third floor with no short way to a ground rod. 😬
Of course I dont want the grounding cable (for com not for electric) to act as a radiating element.
I was just wondering, what if I use the inner conductor of a good koax cable to go down all the way to a good, deep driven ground rod???
e.g. a 13mm ultraflex or similar.
wouldn´t the shielding of the coax (maybe in combination with a wave blocker) prevent that the cable would start to throw RFI???
73 from Europe OE8OPT
Hi, I really think you share great information on the BAOFENG Chinese radio. I'm concerned with the latest Chinese CCP gov. stating clearly that all Chinese companies and citizens shall work vigorously to further the CCP agenda. This is very concerning as I don't want to purchase gear made in China or with Chinese parts to protect myself from being tracked and spied on from China. I I encourage to choose to support a vendor that is not openly anti-American.. Do you know of a vendor that meets this "No to Chinese gear" criteria?
Sure, buy Japanese radios from ICOM, Yaesu, Kenwood and Alinco
I scrolled through parts of the video and not sure if i missed something but im just curious if a ground rod would help at all in a portable/mobile situation? Also with a go box would you recommend bonding everything to the case and then to ground or separate lines to ground?
Does anybody have recommendations for a good RFI Generator? I'm new to this and just spent most of my money on a premium box of grid squares.
Hopefully this will receive an answer...I have a Semlex sec-1235M power supply (no ground lug) and an Icom 2730A mobile rig (no ground lug) attached to a Diamond X50A antenna. I understand the ground and lightning protection on antenna, but how the "bleep" am I supposed to ground power supply and radio other than the power supply third prong on plug and black ground from power supply to radio?
It’s grounded VIA the AC safety ground on the plug.
Do you need consistency in your materials connecting to the bus bar? If I have my radio connected by 1 inch braid 1 foot does it matter if I use 1/2 inch braid? or different length? or copper wire in place of braid for 1 device?
My house already has a ground line; can I just use that?
I’m a noob in the radio game and am currently building out my shack. I have a question regarding the need to bond the power supply and PC. If both of these items have a ground pin on the power cord why would I need to bond them together and to the transceiver? Also thanks for doing these videos 73 - KI5SOT
hi enjoy your beer
My shack is a portable Xiegu G90 with a Aliinco power supply and wolf river coil antenna. I only set up my shack when I want to use it. Do I need to ground it? And if yes, the breaker box is right below my shack in the basement. Can I run a ground wire from my radio directly to the ground wire coming out of the breaker box? Do I also need a separate ground wire from the power supply to the breaker box ground wire? I cannot find the ground rod outside.
The short answer is probably not. With that said, since you’re so close to the breakers, you could run a good ground wire from the ground rod to your shack and make a bus bar using a flattened copper plumbing piece. Then you could run a wire from the bus bar to the radio when you want to connect.
@@HamRadioCrashCourse thank you so much! I love your videos. You explain things very clearly. Thanks!!
Is that a grounding rod coming off a sub panel lol?!
Most people don't have their main panel inside there house. That's going to confuse a lot of people.
I have that on the second floor and disconnect on the inside
Can you use power pole(s) on the ground line from equipment to the bus bar?
The diameter is likely too small. I use braided strap in the shack.
Josh your videos are the best. I learn so much. I recently got my technician license. Now studying for the general. How do I support your efforts with a donation?
His patreon info is in the video description
@@tradedate Got it...
Hi, you have many interresting shows. Im subscribing, but i always miss tour liveshow on Fridays. Greetings from Karl Trond from Norway. Can younpoease update me what utc time you are live?
Hi Trond, I'm live 12:00UTC. Thank you for watching!
@@HamRadioCrashCourse Great, thank you. Greetings from Norway😀
QUESTION. i seen an operator remove the sheathing from the coax to just expose the shield. He tapped into that and grounded his discone antenna.
Can i do the same for a HF dipole or a 40m dipole?
Can you not ground the coax sheathing before it comes up to your 2nd floor in your home?
Thanks.
Sure, if you are not worried about water logging your coax. Make the ground connection then paint it with some kind of sealant.
Ham Radio Crash Course but do we ground HF dipoles also?
Only for lightening protection.
Josh how log is the distance from your buss bar in the shack to the ground rod outside?
And second note: isnt the 3rd prong ground on your AC the same as chassis ground? Would that be a problem when connecting chassis ground to your buss bar?
The run to the rod is as short as you can make it. Ideally all ground rods get bonded to ac service rod so connecting ac ground become moot.
Hello, what are the biggest differences between the BaoFeng UV-82HP & BF-F8HP.
Nothing really. The UV-82 has a two switch PTT for channel A and B.
Ham Radio Crash Course I am a HAM newbie and found your channel. I am looking to start off with a sub $100 radio & saw some of your beginner videos based on the UV-5R. I may get the BF-F8HP as it seems like it would be similar enough for me to follow along with. Thanks for your input!
Ham Radio Crash Course was wondering if you know of a durable, waterproof dmr encryptable radio fit for field use. the anytone 878 seems like abit of a fragile unit, need it to be able to put on a plate carrier that can stand up to a lot like a yeasu, thanks!
do i need to ground a qrp radio
It doesn't hurt!
Josh! Please contact me. Your advice at 23 minutes needs more explanation!
make another video on same topic but keep it under 5 minutes
hello
15:19 This is not "An Ideal Setup".
You have forgotten to ground your tower!!!
Three more ground rods needed immediately. 😒
Beer. Chanel hawk
Josh! We need to talk! Your ground picture is BAD!
Should I ground or bond my tin foil hats?
Cherish them, they are illegal now.
Way too much overthinking the subject. One ground rod outside the shack, bonded to the service panel ground rod. Unplug everything except when actually in use when no storms within 20 miles.
A good resource for grounding and bonding is from Motorola "STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES FOR COMMUNICATION SITES" Free PDF.
Hi my mate.. Iam not a ham radio user, watching your channel for grounding advice, for my stereo.. Thankyou for the excellent advice.. All you advise applies to getting a quiet noise floor for the stereo,, love itt... A . British audiophile,,, regards Antony Warrington, England...
Thanks for watching! I’m glad it helped!!
I have a 20' antenna for a 2M Jpole. The ground rod is near the bottom of the antenna, and that mast is grounded. It is 10' to my window I bring in the Coax. At the window, I have a ground plate that is also run back to the ground rod (10' away) The through window setup is a ground ribbon into my shack, and also mounted on that ground bus outside the window the coax from the antenna is connected to a lightening arrester then comes in through the window with a thin through window cable from DX engineering. So after watching your show I'm wondering about that ground wire from the near window ground rod to the Ground rod - 10' away. Is that an issue?
I've got hard clay and rocky soil in my yard it doesn't take me an hour to drive a ground rod, 30 minutes max. I use a 4 lb sledgehammer that I picked up at Lowe's for $20 that's all you need just go slow. You can also run water into the hole to soften your soil.
54:46 Nicely done Josh! LOL "What do I with a..."
Thanks for a great video, I now have a garage full of Toroids.
But more seriously, this was really useful.
Despite the differences in our mains power supplies, and how they are earthed.
73
2E0GKF.
Just worked you on 20!!
Buenos tus comentarios, saludos desde Uruguay S-America
Black cable is for a rotor
At 1:12:53 you talk about operating a station on higher floors away from a ground rod. . What I did was figure out my lowest band. Cut a 1/4 wave wire and leave about 6 feet or so dangling away from the operating position then wrap the rest of the 1/4 wave wire around a dowel keeping it tight with electrical tape so it looks like an inductor. The end of what you started to wind that end wire, make sure you tape the end wire so if someone or a let we’re to touch it they would be burned. It’s difficult to describe. Basically you have a 1/4 wave wire wound around a baseball bat or 2 inch wooden dowel with wire off of each end. One about a couple of inches long and the other side like 6 foot long. Attach that 6 foot section wire to an MFJ Artificial Ground Box then the ground on your radio. This MFJ product takes the stray RF OFF your station and moves it away from you. I use to use this when I was running Tube gear in the late 1980’s. Worked in all my apartments. Sure there was some RFI in the other apartments. I had this guy tell me that he thought his apartment was Haunted because his stereo speakers were not connected to his stereo but he heard voices from them. I laughed like crazy because I knew it was me but I never told him I was a ham. I think I made up some story about Ghosts on the property before our apartment was built. 🤣😆. He was freaked out.
Anyway. Never had RF Bite after that but apparently everybody else thought it was a poltergeist
Hi, the vid is great really like the subject, could you please explain how to ground your pc to that outgoing ground, the pc is already grounded to the AC house ground, as is the power supply , the Samlex does not have a ground screw , an electrician mentioned it works as a floating ground, I am not an electrician and a new Ham so , I am not in the light on this and so far lightning either. thanks for any guidance you could give on this. ve9mwb mike
A good stream Josh.
I'm assuming my 18 gauge wire connected to ground on ICOM 7300 to a water pipe inside my home is not sufficient?
Probably not the best, can you get like 6 gauge? How long is it?
What if i run my HF radio on batteries and not AC power? Do i need to ground it?
Almost all radio equipment expects DC power. Feed it 12-13.8 volts and it'll be fine.
Can I bond my RF/Lighting ground rod to the power panel in my basement or should I run a grounding bond directly to the ground? FYI my house uses a water service pipe for ground and it's hard to get to, but the box is very close.
The box does not have its own ground rod?
@@HamRadioCrashCourse No. It's grounded via a copper wire to the water service in the basement.
Ground to a water pipe then. Keep the wire short as you can.
PSU use the chassis ground
oops ground the rig to a bus then to earth