As an electronic technician (retired), I have to say that nothing works 100%. Lightning strikes are literally like getting broadsided by a fully loaded 18 wheeler. Sometimes trees explode from the inside out, and everything in the house is left untouched. I've also found wall plugs melted only to find that what was plugged into the top plug was untouched while what was plugged into the bottom plug was totally destroyed.
Yes, I did learn something! As usual, I really enjoyed your video John; thanks,There were a 101 uses for this copper strapping, beyond just plumbing and now I would say there are 102 uses! hihiI may just modify my homemade grounding busbar to include this neat idea....73 from CanadaBrent
Thank you! Great video. I am just getting my shack set up and have been confused with all of the different opinions and beliefs out there on proper grounding. The way you did it is similar to what I have in mind. This video makes me feel better. Again thank you and 73's!!
Plumbing hanger, or hanging strip. Anyway I think the video is great I just wish you would have shown some more up close photos of the actual equipment attached to the strap.
Looks sharp. I have been using the second method, but looking to do it in a similar fashion to this video. Belt and suspenders, great expression, but do it myself whenever possible. 73
Use what you have, my life philosophy. I used some flattened 1/2” copper pipe for the bar around the bench. One night I heard a couple of police cars coming and looked out the window and a car turned around in my drive and took off. The police did the same thing. Next morning I found the car threw a bunch of copper pipe cut up into 4 to 6 foot pieces. Hmmm, copper thieves. Called the law and they said it’s yours. So it is now the station ground bus, the lightning arrester bus and enough to make two loop grounds on the towers. Thank you thugs. BTW, copper thieves went to prison. Seems they also had a lot of heroin. Glad they didn’t toss that crap out in my yard.
John, Great information. My station is simular, but I use #4 Copper wire under the bench, and copper braid to connect to the radios, and antenna switches. I could go into how to keep your station from getting hit by lightning as some point. (learned from experience.
+Herb Blair Herb, good to hear from you and thanks for the suggestion. I would love to see a video of how you've grounded your station (hint, hint)! Merry Christmas to you and your family from the Tyler area ~John
Hi John, good video in general. As an electrician, the thing we need to tell people is more about bonding than grounding. Make sure all of your radios, amps, antennas, coax etc are bonded together in the shack and then run a SINGLE heavy gauge wire (6AWG is standard) to the grounding electrode system of your home's electrical system. If you MUST drive your own ground rod (it is not necessary and I simply use an intersystem bonding termination to connect that 6AWG to my home's grounding system) MAKE SURE it is bonded to your home's electrical grounding system, be it ground rods if they are there, or water pipes if they are not. DO NOT drive your own ground rod and only connect it to your ham stuff. This could create a dangerous difference in potential with a nearby surge or lighting strike. Despite what folks will tell you, this won't create all sorts of noise on your system and is the ONLY safe way to do things. You want all your equipment to be at the same potential as your home electrical system, cable and satellite wiring, water pipes, gas pipe, etc. I'd encourage you to check out Mike Holt's videos on bonding and grounding, he is very knowledgeable and has corrected many companies that encourage people to drive their own ground rod (create an isolated grounding system) for equipment that is not only dangerous but can damage expensive equipment.
1 ground rod is not really sufficitent, work out the square area of a small rod, its tiny instead use galvanised steel box section laid in the ground 1 meter down and flat not driven in, with a welded and well made riser that wont rust (you paint it and grease its connection clamp) that will give better low impedance or several spaced rods, I used an UFER system here in Thailand the Land of Smiles and NO system grounds. All my wall sockets are UK three pins stops the daft locals plugging in their dangerous two wire chinese crap...
The middle drawing on the ground wiring is a "STAR" connection. The incorrect one is the daisy chained or sequential ground, The other one could be considered similar to a BUS bar. If a BUS bar, it is BEST to have the GROUND termination from the MIDDLE of the BUS BAR and heaviest current loads closest to the center of the bus bar and lightest loads toward the ends. You can verify the quality of your ground for DC and AC by measuring from each device with your red lead of your digital meter and the black lead right directly on your copper ground rod. While transmitting full carrier power, If you see any voltage AC/DC on the ground from one ground point to the final ground reference then you have an insufficient ground. DO NOT GROUND HAM ANTENNA to the house ELECTRICAL ground! The power cord to your power supply is the only exception. The rest of the station grounding needs its OWN ground stake separate from the house electrical ground stake. Best wishes.
Thank you. Grounding is perhaps one of the most disputed topics in amateur radio. I still have questions. If what you do is safe and works, go with it. But most importantly keep reading and studying. Make changes to be safer and better. N0QFT
John, I'm an electrical engineer and have 43 years of experience with power and grounding. The only time you need tone concerned about ground loops is when you have two ways that current can flow to ground. If there is only one path, then you are all set. One place many people trip up is of they are using grounded (3-wire) cord sets to connect the equipment to mains power. If you have a separate ground like why you described, check to be sure the ground wire from your power cords aren't attached to chassis ground at your equipment. This will result in a ground loop. in this case, it is perfectly legal and desirable to disconnect the green grounding wire from your radio chassis, as you are providing a separate grounding system.
Thanks for watching. However, since I'm not an engineer, I've chosen not to give specific info about individual situations. This video is only an example of what I did in my shack. I suggest that you contact the company that supplied your lighting arrestors for specific detail. Thanks for your understanding. ~John
Commercial Radio Sites look somewhat like your top diagram. They also run heavy copper from the tower to the ground point in your diagram as well as multiple other ground rods via a buried ground ring of heavy wire usually surrounding the tower and the building. Their goal is to get the lightning to follow the tower ground run into the ground ring and not into the building. While I don't think your in-building ground strap would last a microsecond during a direct lightning hit as many times commercial level grounding systems become damaged on a direct hit. I do however believe that your system system will solve a lot of "RF in the Shack" problems and was well worth the effort. All in all, a decent job that should provide positive results.
I only took my extra license test a couple of weeks ago, so all the data is still relatively fresh in my mind. I'm also setting up my very first station, so I've been inundated with the information on grounding and so on. All of the above being said, number 2 on the diagram (the middle) is, according to everything I have seen, the only correct way to do your station grounding. The top example on your sheet of paper is the example that is shown many times to say, "Don't do this." All the information I've seen recently says that this ( the center drawing) is a fantastic way to create ground loops. I am only conveying information that is very recent to me and I have seen many times in the last couple of weeks. I do not claim to know any more than anyone else on this subject. All I can do is say that because of what I have read and what I've seen I will not be doing it according to the top drawing. One of the things I'm beginning to find out about this Hobby, is that there is no shortage of differing opinions on every subject under the sun. To that all I can say is, research, research, research, and then use your intellect and common sense to make the best educated decision. Finally I would have to say that simply following the National Electric Code is probably not a bad way to go about things. This is where I'm talking out of the other side of my face though. I have not, checked to see what the NEC has to say about Shack grounding for RF. I suppose I had better do just that.
The first 2 drawings are basically the same thing. Individually attaching to a common ground point. You can run a separate bond outside or use a common ground buss, which is then bonded to the outside grounding rod as John did, you've accomplished the same thing. This is not RF grounding tho. John is grounding equipment chassis. Only thing I'd do differently is use a much heavier gauge bonding wire. Flat braided bonding strap and a ground clamp is much cheaper than replacing the radios.
I beleive the reason your method is correct is because you are forcing a common ground not grounds that are comming from different sources. What you've done make a lot o f sense. I'd bet bucks its nice and quiet on your gear. Nice work and thanks for sharing a great idea.
Reviewing some of your older videos and enjoy them. I do like your nicely done cheat sheet for the cw/sbb portions of the bands just above your Icom radio. Going to fire up Excel and make one too. 73
To add one thing - station grounding is NOT controversial. The principles are well understood and documented. Not to say a lot of people don't do it wrong and then argue about it, making a controversy out of what should be sound engineering practices.
John there are so many opinions on this subject it forced me to think it through for myself. We all agree electricity takes the path of least resistance. I agree you should conect all your cabnets together but they are already grounded to your main house ground thru the 3 wire power plug if you make another ground outside your window and it's better than your house ground than any big surge will take the path of least resistance through your radio equipment instead of the house ground.i don't want to encourage it to go thru my radio's so leave off the ground outside your window. Just my very unprofessional opinion. Jeff
Thanks for the video John. I saw a sticker on the radio that said Whitehouse, Tx. Is that the one a bit south of Tyler? I have family in the Tyler area.
Jack, thanks for the comment. I was looking for some wire that was flexible since I occasionally move my rigs around. However your suggestion of a heaver wire may be more appropriate. ~John
Question...My shack is in the complete opposite end of the house from the electrical service ground. I have no choice but to install a separate ground for the radio gear, or I'd have to run about 100 feet of solid 6 or 8 AWG around the front and side of the house to get there...HELP!
George, thanks for watching my videos. Since every install is unique, I suggest getting a qualified electrician to look at your situation to make sure you are within your areas electrical code. ~John
Very Good john, I do pop in once while and saw this Video run I would like to Add tho I think you should have added the main coming into the shack? what and how those grounds ""Third pin plugs, and Neutral side is being used to the main power your using.Do you use those 120v gray adapter that drops the 3rd pin "Earth ground " ? If not then you have a ground loop. maybe your station has a Isolated Transformer? I hope I may said it understandable, clear? Noise you have mention John, coax coming in that shield , is it ground? then if so another ground, I feel all coax coming in at the station should have a Balun Transformer 1:1 . This is my option again I am not a electrician Just some have found Noise comes in on coax and ground connections FOR SURE.and so does RF and Voltages !! Thanks John for your efforts 73's Dale
Thanks John, the best conductor to the ground is flat copper strap, surface area/current rating capability, if that strap you used on the wall can make it through the coax panel and to your ground rod would be much better than most solutions. Great videos thanks John. Dave, N4IN
Hi, If i may ask, Im on the 2nd floor of my home....straight out the window right down to the ground is about 12 feet....I have to run a ground wire from my station down 12 feet. Is that too long? Anything i can do to eliminate my ground from becoming an antenna as you said? Thank you John...
Theo, thanks for following along with my videos. I suspect the 12 ft ground from second floor is less than optimal MFJ makes an artificial ground device that gets pretty good reviews on eHam. I see them come up from time to time at hamfests and eBay. Perhaps checking there will help. 73/John.
ok fine and dandy re your clip, but here in good ole Thailand (all cement and steel houses so they dont blow down or burn) we employed the Mr UFER system look it up on WIKI, we were lucky that our station is my house and office that I built myself. so I just used the UFER system (for all my electrical grounding) and welded and tied copper and brass connectors on the rebar coated in grease (copperease colloidal grease imported because Thais don't use it, ) and then poured in the cement to the formers to make my rebar and cement foundations, under the UFER system the free IONS in the cement can make great contact with the ground and also I tied all the roof and pillars to all the rebar so I get lightning protection too...I measured 2-4 ohms using a special electricians meter when the ground was very dry I do not TX I only RX wspr (MW3PWA off air in December 2022) Nice and quiet QTH the food and ladies are good too. Ive a clip on my site under "MW3PWA MH 370 Ham Radio WSPR Receiver-only Station Thailand" down the page altho I dont thnk they actually had any real chance of using HF WSPR for finding MH370 I think its in Russia and Putins gonna use it to make a covert getaway when the sh1/T hits the fan..
Well Done- I do communications and cell site grounding commercially and you are definitely on track for Ham installs, doesn't need to be fancy. Grounding vs. Electrically Bonding there is a difference. Most Hams don't realize how much it will lower reception noise. 73's
I can see where number 2 would avoid ground loop. But to me ..1 and 3 would be the same. and to me the shorter the ground the better. thanks for the video's. watch you alot!
N8TUW Steve Newland and also W5CYF John this is a good video. It's weird how in 1992 I got my ticket probably in the same session as you Steve. I now live in FL. I was inactive for about 10 years and was active in computers. Anyway I noticed our calls are one letter apart and wanted to make a comment on this post. I would like to know if you tested with me in 1992 Steve? You all have a great day. 73 de N8TUY John
Just for comparison I would suggest watching one of our local radio personality videos, he has a very good video on "grounding" and over 50 years experience. If you've never watched his series of videos I highly recommend it. You can watch it here: ruclips.net/video/bngyl_yqIhg/видео.html
Well John, you sure issued enough caveats in your video. If you installed a ground rod outside the wall of the shack, but did not bond it to the power company ground rod then your installation will make things worse if you get a lightning surge. It is required by code. Without that, you have multiple paths to ground which cause all kinds of problems. A good summary of grounding practices is located in the antenna forum area on qrz.com. Suggestion - modify the video to tell people what you showed is only part of a good installation.
this is bad info.... the ground bus should be tied to the service ground usally through the power supply that's connected to the ground lug in your wall outlet which goes back to the service panel. . not a second ground rod outside the station unless that second ground rod is properly bonded to the service ground. attaching the ground bus to an unbounded ground rod outside the station will introduce a ground loop. the ground bus simple keeps all your equipment at the same potential.
“If you go out and buy everything, where’s the fun in that? You make do with what you have.” Love it! Great video.
As an electronic technician (retired), I have to say that nothing works 100%. Lightning strikes are literally like getting broadsided by a fully loaded 18 wheeler.
Sometimes trees explode from the inside out, and everything in the house is left untouched. I've also found wall plugs melted only to find that what was plugged into the top plug was untouched while what was plugged into the bottom plug was totally destroyed.
I also highly suggest reading the National Electrical code, latest version regarding grounding. Don't create problems you didn't have before.
You could always use solder wick for ground strapping. It comes in different widths.
Home Depot / Lowe's sells grounding busses with screws in them in the electrical Dept.
Paul, thanks for watching and for the good info. ~John
Good video. I would suggest using star lockwashers at all your hardware connections under the mounting nuts and wing nuts.
Yes, I did learn something! As usual, I really enjoyed your video John; thanks,There were a 101 uses for this copper strapping, beyond just plumbing and now I would say there are 102 uses! hihiI may just modify my homemade grounding busbar to include this neat idea....73 from CanadaBrent
+Binder Dundat
Brent, thanks for watching and for your comments. ~John
Thank you! Great video. I am just getting my shack set up and have been confused with all of the different opinions and beliefs out there on proper grounding. The way you did it is similar to what I have in mind. This video makes me feel better. Again thank you and 73's!!
Plumbing hanger, or hanging strip. Anyway I think the video is great I just wish you would have shown some more up close photos of the actual equipment attached to the strap.
Looks sharp. I have been using the second method, but looking to do it in a similar fashion to this video. Belt and suspenders, great expression, but do it myself whenever possible. 73
Thanks for watching ~John
Good video best delivery so far Ive seen so many other experts tell of whats coming later in the course and pause and stutter but your ok thanks.
Use what you have, my life philosophy. I used some flattened 1/2” copper pipe for the bar around the bench.
One night I heard a couple of police cars coming and looked out the window and a car turned around in my drive and took off. The police did the same thing.
Next morning I found the car threw a bunch of copper pipe cut up into 4 to 6 foot pieces.
Hmmm, copper thieves.
Called the law and they said it’s yours. So it is now the station ground bus, the lightning arrester bus and enough to make two loop grounds on the towers. Thank you thugs.
BTW, copper thieves went to prison. Seems they also had a lot of heroin. Glad they didn’t toss that crap out in my yard.
John, Great information. My station is simular, but I use #4 Copper wire under the bench, and copper braid to connect to the radios, and antenna switches. I could go into how to keep your station from getting hit by lightning as some point. (learned from experience.
+Herb Blair
Herb, good to hear from you and thanks for the suggestion. I would love to see a video of how you've grounded your station (hint, hint)! Merry Christmas to you and your family from the Tyler area ~John
The only thing I would have added is actually mentioning what a ground loop is, and why it is a bad thing to have. Great video!
Hi John, good video in general. As an electrician, the thing we need to tell people is more about bonding than grounding. Make sure all of your radios, amps, antennas, coax etc are bonded together in the shack and then run a SINGLE heavy gauge wire (6AWG is standard) to the grounding electrode system of your home's electrical system. If you MUST drive your own ground rod (it is not necessary and I simply use an intersystem bonding termination to connect that 6AWG to my home's grounding system) MAKE SURE it is bonded to your home's electrical grounding system, be it ground rods if they are there, or water pipes if they are not. DO NOT drive your own ground rod and only connect it to your ham stuff. This could create a dangerous difference in potential with a nearby surge or lighting strike. Despite what folks will tell you, this won't create all sorts of noise on your system and is the ONLY safe way to do things. You want all your equipment to be at the same potential as your home electrical system, cable and satellite wiring, water pipes, gas pipe, etc. I'd encourage you to check out Mike Holt's videos on bonding and grounding, he is very knowledgeable and has corrected many companies that encourage people to drive their own ground rod (create an isolated grounding system) for equipment that is not only dangerous but can damage expensive equipment.
@@mixxndj im wondering this too. Do I need to route my ground wire to the breaker panel or can I just ground it into the round pin hole in a socket?
1 ground rod is not really sufficitent, work out the square area of a small rod, its tiny instead use galvanised steel box section laid in the ground 1 meter down and flat not driven in, with a welded and well made riser that wont rust (you paint it and grease its connection clamp) that will give better low impedance or several spaced rods, I used an UFER system here in Thailand the Land of Smiles and NO system grounds. All my wall sockets are UK three pins stops the daft locals plugging in their dangerous two wire chinese crap...
Nicely done. I would have used the copper-coated strapping material to run out the shack to the outside ground.
Motorola R56 standard is the best reference to antenna / tower grounding
R56 is good reading.
The middle drawing on the ground wiring is a "STAR" connection. The incorrect one is the daisy chained or sequential ground, The other one could be considered similar to a BUS bar. If a BUS bar, it is BEST to have the GROUND termination from the MIDDLE of the BUS BAR and heaviest current loads closest to the center of the bus bar and lightest loads toward the ends. You can verify the quality of your ground for DC and AC by measuring from each device with your red lead of your digital meter and the black lead right directly on your copper ground rod. While transmitting full carrier power, If you see any voltage AC/DC on the ground from one ground point to the final ground reference then you have an insufficient ground. DO NOT GROUND HAM ANTENNA to the house ELECTRICAL ground! The power cord to your power supply is the only exception. The rest of the station grounding needs its OWN ground stake separate from the house electrical ground stake. Best wishes.
Thanks for your good suggestions. ~John
The ground rod should be bonded to the electrical system ground
Correct, all grounds should go back to mains. ~John
Very good information, John. My station is grounded similar your setup. No problems so far.
+kd5gbb
Thanks for watching and for taking time to leave a comment. 73 ~John
Nice video, wondering what type of camera - excellent quality
Joe
Ve1bwv
Thank you.
Grounding is perhaps one of the most disputed topics in amateur radio.
I still have questions. If what you do is safe and works, go with it.
But most importantly keep reading and studying. Make changes to be safer and better. N0QFT
John,
I'm an electrical engineer and have 43 years of experience with power and grounding. The only time you need tone concerned about ground loops is when you have two ways that current can flow to ground. If there is only one path, then you are all set.
One place many people trip up is of they are using grounded (3-wire) cord sets to connect the equipment to mains power. If you have a separate ground like why you described, check to be sure the ground wire from your power cords aren't attached to chassis ground at your equipment. This will result in a ground loop. in this case, it is perfectly legal and desirable to disconnect the green grounding wire from your radio chassis, as you are providing a separate grounding system.
Bill, thanks for taking time to provide an excellent suggestion and rationale. Good advice. ~John
Thanks for watching. However, since I'm not an engineer, I've chosen not to give specific info about individual situations. This video is only an example of what I did in my shack. I suggest that you contact the company that supplied your lighting arrestors for specific detail. Thanks for your understanding. ~John
Netr@nger separate ground on your shack. my thought!
Commercial Radio Sites look somewhat like your top diagram. They also run heavy copper from the tower to the ground point in your diagram as well as multiple other ground rods via a buried ground ring of heavy wire usually surrounding the tower and the building. Their goal is to get the lightning to follow the tower ground run into the ground ring and not into the building.
While I don't think your in-building ground strap would last a microsecond during a direct lightning hit as many times commercial level grounding systems become damaged on a direct hit. I do however believe that your system system will solve a lot of "RF in the Shack" problems and was well worth the effort.
All in all, a decent job that should provide positive results.
I only took my extra license test a couple of weeks ago, so all the data is still relatively fresh in my mind. I'm also setting up my very first station, so I've been inundated with the information on grounding and so on. All of the above being said, number 2 on the diagram (the middle) is, according to everything I have seen, the only correct way to do your station grounding. The top example on your sheet of paper is the example that is shown many times to say, "Don't do this." All the information I've seen recently says that this ( the center drawing) is a fantastic way to create ground loops. I am only conveying information that is very recent to me and I have seen many times in the last couple of weeks. I do not claim to know any more than anyone else on this subject. All I can do is say that because of what I have read and what I've seen I will not be doing it according to the top drawing.
One of the things I'm beginning to find out about this Hobby, is that there is no shortage of differing opinions on every subject under the sun. To that all I can say is, research, research, research, and then use your intellect and common sense to make the best educated decision. Finally I would have to say that simply following the National Electric Code is probably not a bad way to go about things. This is where I'm talking out of the other side of my face though. I have not, checked to see what the NEC has to say about Shack grounding for RF. I suppose I had better do just that.
Thanks for watching. As you say there are many opinions. I am not an EE, but only showing what works for me. 73 and welcome to the Extra bands! ~John
The first 2 drawings are basically the same thing. Individually attaching to a common ground point. You can run a separate bond outside or use a common ground buss, which is then bonded to the outside grounding rod as John did, you've accomplished the same thing. This is not RF grounding tho. John is grounding equipment chassis.
Only thing I'd do differently is use a much heavier gauge bonding wire. Flat braided bonding strap and a ground clamp is much cheaper than replacing the radios.
I beleive the reason your method is correct is because you are forcing a common ground not grounds that are comming from different sources. What you've done make a lot o f sense. I'd bet bucks its nice and quiet on your gear. Nice work and thanks for sharing a great idea.
Mark, thanks for watching and for taking a moment to leave comments. ~John
Great video, John! Definitely some good information there!
+Richard Slusher
Richard, thanks for watching and for your comments. ~John
Good video OM. I think you did it right.. keep having fun, thanks for sharing! 73's OM !
+dennis brooks
Dennis, thanks for watching and for your comments. ~John
Reviewing some of your older videos and enjoy them. I do like your nicely done cheat sheet for the cw/sbb portions of the bands just above your Icom radio. Going to fire up Excel and make one too.
73
Preston, thanks for your info on power I found the manual online that will be a big help. I appreciate it! ~John
To add one thing - station grounding is NOT controversial. The principles are well understood and documented. Not to say a lot of people don't do it wrong and then argue about it, making a controversy out of what should be sound engineering practices.
+feeatlastfeeatlast
Thanks for your comments. and suggestions. ~John
John there are so many opinions on this subject it forced me to think it through for myself. We all agree electricity takes the path of least resistance. I agree you should conect all your cabnets together but they are already grounded to your main house ground thru the 3 wire power plug if you make another ground outside your window and it's better than your house ground than any big surge will take the path of least resistance through your radio equipment instead of the house ground.i don't want to encourage it to go thru my radio's so leave off the ground outside your window. Just my very unprofessional opinion.
Jeff
Jeff, thanks for your comments. As noted in the video, I am not and EE but just giving an idea of what I use. ~John
Incorrect. Electricity does not take the path of least resistance... it takes every path.
Thanks for the video John. I saw a sticker on the radio that said Whitehouse, Tx. Is that the one a bit south of Tyler? I have family in the Tyler area.
Chuck, thanks for following along. Yes, I live just south of Tyler. Love it here in East Texas! ~John
Great information. Just what I needed. Thanks and 73.
+sean808080
Thanks for watching and for your kind words. ~John
Thanks for the info, (that you McCloud? ;-) )
Like your candid approach; but speaker wire seems flimsy, gauge seems inadequate, #2 AWG it is not
. Comments???
Jack, thanks for the comment. I was looking for some wire that was flexible since I occasionally move my rigs around. However your suggestion of a heaver wire may be more appropriate. ~John
Question...My shack is in the complete opposite end of the house from the electrical service ground. I have no choice but to install a separate ground for the radio gear, or I'd have to run about 100 feet of solid 6 or 8 AWG around the front and side of the house to get there...HELP!
George, thanks for watching my videos. Since every install is unique, I suggest getting a qualified electrician to look at your situation to make sure you are within your areas electrical code. ~John
Very Good john, I do pop in once while and saw this Video run I would like to Add tho I think you should have added the main coming into the shack? what and how those grounds ""Third pin plugs, and Neutral side is being used to the main power your using.Do you use those 120v gray adapter that drops the 3rd pin "Earth ground " ? If not then you have a ground loop. maybe your station has a Isolated Transformer? I hope I may said it understandable, clear? Noise you have mention John, coax coming in that shield , is it ground? then if so another ground, I feel all coax coming in at the station should have a Balun Transformer 1:1 . This is my option again I am not a electrician Just some have found Noise comes in on coax and ground connections FOR SURE.and so does RF and Voltages !! Thanks John for your efforts 73's Dale
Thanks John!!! Very helpful video!!! N5CRL-Chris
is your external ground rod bonded to the main house entrance ground rod?
Thanks for watching. Yes. everything goes back to service entrance ground.
Thanks John, the best conductor to the ground is flat copper strap, surface area/current rating capability, if that strap you used on the wall can make it through the coax panel and to your ground rod would be much better than most solutions. Great videos thanks John. Dave, N4IN
+David Shelton
Dave, thanks for your suggestion and comments. I think I will try to tie the strap all the way to window pass through. ~John
Hi, If i may ask, Im on the 2nd floor of my home....straight out the window right down to the ground is about 12 feet....I have to run a ground wire from my station down 12 feet. Is that too long? Anything i can do to eliminate my ground from becoming an antenna as you said? Thank you John...
Theo, thanks for following along with my videos. I suspect the 12 ft ground from second floor is less than optimal MFJ makes an artificial ground device that gets pretty good reviews on eHam. I see them come up from time to time at hamfests and eBay. Perhaps checking there will help. 73/John.
Great Video!
Hat color changed mid video, went from good guy to bad guy!
Plumbing strap is what that is called 😁
Thanks John
ok fine and dandy re your clip, but here in good ole Thailand (all cement and steel houses so they dont blow down or burn) we employed the Mr UFER system look it up on WIKI, we were lucky that our station is my house and office that I built myself. so I just used the UFER system (for all my electrical grounding) and welded and tied copper and brass connectors on the rebar coated in grease (copperease colloidal grease imported because Thais don't use it, ) and then poured in the cement to the formers to make my rebar and cement foundations, under the UFER system the free IONS in the cement can make great contact with the ground and also I tied all the roof and pillars to all the rebar so I get lightning protection too...I measured 2-4 ohms using a special electricians meter when the ground was very dry I do not TX I only RX wspr (MW3PWA off air in December 2022) Nice and quiet QTH the food and ladies are good too. Ive a clip on my site under "MW3PWA MH 370 Ham Radio WSPR Receiver-only Station Thailand" down the page altho I dont thnk they actually had any real chance of using HF WSPR for finding MH370 I think its in Russia and Putins gonna use it to make a covert getaway when the sh1/T hits the fan..
what is a ground loop?
Ground loop is when something has two paths to ground.
when you crash your plane and it bowls over on the ground - very nasty
Well Done- I do communications and cell site grounding commercially and you are definitely on track for Ham installs, doesn't need to be fancy. Grounding vs. Electrically Bonding there is a difference. Most Hams don't realize how much it will lower reception noise. 73's
+John Talbot
John, thanks for sending along your comments and for watching the videos. ~John
I can see where number 2 would avoid ground loop. But to me ..1 and 3 would be the same. and to me the shorter the ground the better. thanks for the video's.
watch you alot!
Steve, thanks for watching and for your comments.
N8TUW Steve Newland and also W5CYF John this is a good video.
It's weird how in 1992 I got my ticket probably in the same session as you Steve. I now live in FL. I was inactive for about 10 years and was active in computers. Anyway I noticed our calls are one letter apart and wanted to make a comment on this post. I would like to know if you tested with me in 1992 Steve? You all have a great day.
73
de N8TUY
John
Ground Loops!
Just for comparison I would suggest watching one of our local radio personality videos, he has a very good video on "grounding" and over 50 years experience. If you've never watched his series of videos I highly recommend it. You can watch it here: ruclips.net/video/bngyl_yqIhg/видео.html
Dan, thanks for the suggestion. I'll take a look. ~John
nice video John , very informative .. 73 de K4ARD
+Brian Ard
Bran, Thanks for watching and for your comments.
Well John, you sure issued enough caveats in your video.
If you installed a ground rod outside the wall of the shack, but did not bond it to the power company ground rod then your installation will make things worse if you get a lightning surge. It is required by code. Without that, you have multiple paths to ground which cause all kinds of problems.
A good summary of grounding practices is located in the antenna forum area on qrz.com. Suggestion - modify the video to tell people what you showed is only part of a good installation.
+feeatlastfeeatlast
Thanks for your suggestion, I've added a blurb to not that everything is tied to a common ground. Good suggestion. ~John
how can bonding the 2 ground rods be possible if my station is on the opposite side of the house?
that was great, makes sense
this is bad info.... the ground bus should be tied to the service ground usally through the power supply that's connected to the ground lug in your wall outlet which goes back to the service panel. . not a second ground rod outside the station unless that second ground rod is properly bonded to the service ground. attaching the ground bus to an unbounded ground rod outside the station will introduce a ground loop. the ground bus simple keeps all your equipment at the same potential.
Thanks for the good summary and advice. ~John