I had an advantage when it came to grounding. My dad was a master electrician/electrical inspector so he was critical of my system LOL. One thing he did approve of was my ground system. Multiple rods spaced twice the rod length, 8 rods per tower(2 towers, soon to be 3...) plus a rod every 16 feet between me and the main electrical panel to the main ground rod outside the shack. Both towers are within range to tie back to the main ground system, 3rd tower will be to far away but it will have its own system of ground rods. Polyphasers/transitioning to Alpha Delta(need DC pass thru for preamps) on all coax entering the house and a remote coax switch for the HF/6m antennas that grounds everything when turned off. I DO disconnect everything when a storm is approaching! 45 years repairing consumer electronics showed me what a near miss can do to electronics! If it is not connected and powered down that damage is much less likely. I have a BUNCH of N connectors in my system in MN. I went to using superflex hardline over LMR400 and they have a captive center pn connector where the coax center conductor goes into a socket on the back of the center pin. The pin is fixed in the connector and can't move, the fingers on the center conductor let it move a little without losing contact. FSJ4-50b Superflex can be found n eBay for around $1 a foot, same price as LMR-400! Has a little lower loss too so upper HF band performance is better and VHF+ is MUCH better. I use hardline a lot operating 6m thru 1296 and went thru using LMR jumpers... melted some with 1500 watts on 432... blew up a few connectors running high power on VHF+... FSJ4-50b eliminated that issue. For coax water proofing I went to adhesive lined heat shrink. Stuff is great! Easy to remove! I had a coax splice lay under water one spring with no water ingress. Second option is the self vulcanizing rubber splicing tape. Also easy to remove for any maintenance needs. The Coax seal form on stuff I avoid like the plague, pain in the *** to remove!
Much respect for Ward's knowledge, experience, and teaching skills. More videos with him discussing topics and doing Q&A would be appreciated. Note - Cadweld is an alternative to OneShot. They are a blast to do. I did about 50 of them on a gondola lightning protection project. Just don't do them on a super humid day or they can fail to stick; even had one erupt on me with molten beads burning through my shirt and rolling downward.
Hi Josh - I loved this! I'm working on grounding a second floor ham shack and I was troubled on how to correctly make that work. I'm so glad the question was asked! I also have Ward's book and the additional information for the second story grounding was just what I needed. The sound quality on the video was also great for folks asking questions. Keep up the great work!! W1RCY
What is a good starter boefang radio to get for repeater traffic just to hear! I have no knowledge of HAM radios! Went to a HAM event in my area, folks suggested getting like a 5v or 5u boefang just to hear repeater traffic? But boefamg has a new one like an 8watt 3rd generation 5u!? I don't have my license!!
So it comes down to, if you can bond your shack ground rod to the service ground - DO IT. But if you can't, don't bother since you are not benefiting much from a non-bonded rod ?
hello Josh!!!, I have a problem, my girlfriend wants to give me something for my birthday, I just started in the hobby and I only have a uv5r and a yaesu ft252, the budget is only $200 and I don't know whether to ask her for accessories for those radios or a new radio to go hiking and use with satellites like icom itc10(out of budget but affordable if worth it), yaesu ft65 or yaesu vx6. I live in a mountainous area with a lot of interference from commercial fm radios and the baofeng barely allows me to hear the ISS over my head with a directional antenna and it transmits horribly in uhf
I am from argentina she is from california, she allows me to do radio but movile while hiking with her, also my baofeng does not complies the fcc rules
This is ridiculous. In the first 7 minutes I've had 4 commercial breaks. I can't imagine this is something the creators are doing, it has to be something greedy ass Google is doing but it's making your videos unwatchable.
@@HamRadioCrashCourse but I love your videos and not to sound like a broken record, but I got my license thanks to you. I'm working on my General and watch every week but OMG this is getting bad. And it's not just your channel so I know it's not you.
Your video seems to get interrupted with youtube ads several times during the video. Is this because you have a lot of views or subscribers? These interruptions along with the interruptions by super chatters, and drinking and vaping, degrades the satisfaction level of the videos. I realize you can't do anything about the ad interruptions, just curious, thouh. 73 de k2xt
I had an advantage when it came to grounding. My dad was a master electrician/electrical inspector so he was critical of my system LOL. One thing he did approve of was my ground system. Multiple rods spaced twice the rod length, 8 rods per tower(2 towers, soon to be 3...) plus a rod every 16 feet between me and the main electrical panel to the main ground rod outside the shack. Both towers are within range to tie back to the main ground system, 3rd tower will be to far away but it will have its own system of ground rods. Polyphasers/transitioning to Alpha Delta(need DC pass thru for preamps) on all coax entering the house and a remote coax switch for the HF/6m antennas that grounds everything when turned off.
I DO disconnect everything when a storm is approaching! 45 years repairing consumer electronics showed me what a near miss can do to electronics! If it is not connected and powered down that damage is much less likely.
I have a BUNCH of N connectors in my system in MN. I went to using superflex hardline over LMR400 and they have a captive center pn connector where the coax center conductor goes into a socket on the back of the center pin. The pin is fixed in the connector and can't move, the fingers on the center conductor let it move a little without losing contact. FSJ4-50b Superflex can be found n eBay for around $1 a foot, same price as LMR-400! Has a little lower loss too so upper HF band performance is better and VHF+ is MUCH better. I use hardline a lot operating 6m thru 1296 and went thru using LMR jumpers... melted some with 1500 watts on 432... blew up a few connectors running high power on VHF+... FSJ4-50b eliminated that issue.
For coax water proofing I went to adhesive lined heat shrink. Stuff is great! Easy to remove! I had a coax splice lay under water one spring with no water ingress. Second option is the self vulcanizing rubber splicing tape. Also easy to remove for any maintenance needs. The Coax seal form on stuff I avoid like the plague, pain in the *** to remove!
Much respect for Ward's knowledge, experience, and teaching skills. More videos with him discussing topics and doing Q&A would be appreciated. Note - Cadweld is an alternative to OneShot. They are a blast to do. I did about 50 of them on a gondola lightning protection project. Just don't do them on a super humid day or they can fail to stick; even had one erupt on me with molten beads burning through my shirt and rolling downward.
Hi Josh - I loved this! I'm working on grounding a second floor ham shack and I was troubled on how to correctly make that work. I'm so glad the question was asked! I also have Ward's book and the additional information for the second story grounding was just what I needed. The sound quality on the video was also great for folks asking questions. Keep up the great work!! W1RCY
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching!
Great show Josh! Thank you
What is a good starter boefang radio to get for repeater traffic just to hear! I have no knowledge of HAM radios!
Went to a HAM event in my area, folks suggested getting like a 5v or 5u boefang just to hear repeater traffic?
But boefamg has a new one like an 8watt 3rd generation 5u!?
I don't have my license!!
Why do we overload ourselves with grounding everything at the home shack, but never ground anything during portable operations like POTA?
I think people with homes worry about grounding for maintaining code and avoiding a fire insurance issue.
@@HamRadioCrashCourse Valid point for sure. Thx
So it comes down to, if you can bond your shack ground rod to the service ground - DO IT. But if you can't, don't bother since you are not benefiting much from a non-bonded rod ?
Primarily yes. But you might want to consult a bonded electrician that knows their stuff for code compliance.
hello Josh!!!, I have a problem, my girlfriend wants to give me something for my birthday, I just started in the hobby and I only have a uv5r and a yaesu ft252, the budget is only $200 and I don't know whether to ask her for accessories for those radios or a new radio to go hiking and use with satellites like icom itc10(out of budget but affordable if worth it), yaesu ft65 or yaesu vx6. I live in a mountainous area with a lot of interference from commercial fm radios and the baofeng barely allows me to hear the ISS over my head with a directional antenna and it transmits horribly in uhf
I am from argentina she is from california, she allows me to do radio but movile while hiking with her, also my baofeng does not complies the fcc rules
Thank you for all the information you share. I’m new and learn a great deal from you. I just ordered this book. I’m out near Joshua Tree. KN6WTI
Josh, I am getting advertisements every couple of minutes on your stream. Seems a lot more than normal.
Why do so many HAMs and gmrs operators get mad at people using a roger beep?
It does t bother me, it the use of it is generally redundant.
@@HamRadioCrashCourse ah but you aren't a "sad Ham".lol.
This is ridiculous. In the first 7 minutes I've had 4 commercial breaks. I can't imagine this is something the creators are doing, it has to be something greedy ass Google is doing but it's making your videos unwatchable.
Yeah som RUclips bs.
@@HamRadioCrashCourse but I love your videos and not to sound like a broken record, but I got my license thanks to you. I'm working on my General and watch every week but OMG this is getting bad. And it's not just your channel so I know it's not you.
Your video seems to get interrupted with youtube ads several times during the video. Is this because you have a lot of views or subscribers?
These interruptions along with the interruptions by super chatters, and drinking and vaping, degrades the satisfaction level of the videos. I realize you can't do anything about the ad interruptions, just curious, thouh. 73 de k2xt
RUclips ads auto place and the system deals sometimes. Let me see.