How I ground My Ham Radio Station
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- Grounding your Ham Radio Shack is important! In this video, due to viewer requests, I am showing how I currently have my shack grounded. I am still adding more items but this gives you a basic idea of what i did and all the items are listed below.
Copper Bell Hanger - low.es/2TF8xxH
1 inch copper pipe - Lowes
1 inch copper sl;ip cap - low.es/2UcvnNJ
8AWG 15Ft Copper Ground wire - low.es/2SvYR8T
Copper Lug Connectors - low.es/3zvNnm9
Copper Ground Rod - low.es/3gFLlY6
Hose Clamps for each item you are grounding
Facebook: / hr4nt
Website: hamradiofornon...
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My Current Shack Setup:
Yaesu FT-991A - www.hamradio.c...
Chameleon MPAS 2.0 Antenna - bit.ly/394f3TO
Diamond X-30A Antenna - www.hamradio.c...
Diamond GZV4000 Power Supply - www.hamradio.c...
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#hr4nt
#ki5npl
#hamradiofornontechies
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I have been a HAM for decades. Grounding is made to be confusing, but it IS NOT CONFUSING if you follow some simple rules. You do not want the hose clamps as shown here because you don't get much of a connection. Use dedicated brass or copper ground clamps. Bi-metallic connections are not good but at times are hard to avoid. You can create a ground buss bar as you have here but use a grounding rod and not a pipe. Use UL listed grounding clamps to connect to the buss rod. Keep every run of ground wire or strap as short as possible. Crimp and don't solder.
Having said all that, some HAMs never ground and often have no issues. Once we installed a new AC and I had to disconnect my shack ground and when we were done, I forgot to fix it back. Two years later I found it and fixed it but never knew the difference. The chassis of the components will find a ground via a properly wired home but this is often the cause of a lot of harmonic noise issues. RF and household AC frequencies are completely different animals. I have never had any problems with grounding. Keeping it simple, direct, short and properly connected is what works. Many times if you have RF noise it the shack it will go away if you disconnect the ground which indicates you have created an antenna with your ground by not doing it right.
Thank you very much for sharing your experience! I really appreciate that. I made an updated video on this topic due to the comments and my new solution is just plain and simple common sense. I unplug everything if a storm is approaching or if I am not using my radios for a period of time. Works 100% of the time and my gear is protected. Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!
@@HR4NTAs an Electrician I would also run an unbroken #6 solid copper to the outside ground rod. The ground is only as strong as its weakest point. And those wing nuts on that bolt is a weak point for sure
I'm embarking on the same process as you are and this helped. Copper pipe idea is brilliant. Much cheaper than the professional options
Yeah I try to think of practical solutions that don't cost the moon to reproduce and this seemed to be a good one and it works! Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!
"...they're still not showing you." Yeah, I'm often baffled by how many presenters make a video in which they talk us through something but do little to no showing--in a format that's ideal for showing.
Right??? If I am doing any DIY videos, I make it a point to show everything. I don't want viewers to walk away wondering if something should be done one way or the other, so I try my best to be as thorough as possible. Thank you for the comment and for your support. 73!!!
Thanks for the great video that actually SHOWED the wires. Like you said you can look online but all the people do is TELL you about it and don't show you. One suggestion if you do do another update is come in close with the video on the back of the radio and tuner to show the complete back of everything. You really make it simple and easy to understand. I am in the process of doing exactly what you've shown in your video.
Glad I could help. I am planning on doing an updated video showing more stuff in the near future. Thanks for the comments/suggestions and for watching. 73!
I am a new ham and don't know whether or not your grounding setup is correct, but I appreciate your showing us what you think is correct. Keep up the good work.
On your grounding rod/connection. I would typically dig a hole and hammer the 8’ rod 2”-3” below grade. Then use a 6” or 8” diameter valve box to avoid creating a trip hazard (also looks much cleaner). A single clamp is all you need, but it doesn’t hurt to add more.
Thank you for the input. I have since released an updated video on this topic with a new solution that works every time. I was getting frustrated with all the different methods to ground and it was getting to be too much. My new solution, solves that. Check it out if you have time. It's called Grounding My Shack 2023: What I learned. Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!
i put the ground plane kit on my antron 99 it really helps the recieve . i bought a 8 foot copper clad ground rod at lowes less then 10.00 i need to hit it into the ground i have a 3 pound sledge hammer. water level is 6 feet down here in florida
Sounds like you have a solution that will work for you! I hope it all works out! Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!
I have driven an 8ft grounding rod outside the shack and have a KF7p coax grounding panel on it where all my coaxes attach to bulkhead connectors and that's it. I do have an RF choke on the EFHW but not on the DX Commander or the dual band J pole. I think I'm good. I also unplug the works if a T-storm is forecast for the area, but that might be only once or twice a year at most. Thanks for the common sense approach on this video 73.
Hey I am glad you found value in the video and that it helped confirm your current practices. Keep it simple seems to be the best policy. Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!
Very good video. You are right. So many people doing videos explain things as if you already know how to do it. I like your approach showing the details. I look forward to seeing the installation of the lightning protection. Thanks for the video.
Glad it was helpful! In my DIY videos I want to make sure that everything is covered right down to the last screw, that way there is no contemplation on how to do it. That next video should be out next week. Thanks for watching ands supporting the channel. 73!!!
Good video. Lots of strong opinions on this subject. David Cassler and Ham Radio TV have discussed this. Actuall David discusses this and Ham Radio TV had a guest presenter during a virtual HamFest last year. Also there is a guy on RUclips that discusses the grounding relating to the code. So electrically if the ground rod is too long it looks like a inductor to lightning so short ground runs are good. I have a tower (Rohn 25G) and I have a ground rod for each leg. My Elmer doesn’t like what I did. But as far as lightning rods go, they say to keep them 8’ apart. Some argue DC vs AC grounds.
Bottom line. I am an electrical engineer and am confused. So ground rods are for safety primarily (in my opinion). So antenna switches or manual disconnections for storms are advised. Alpha Delta switches are good. They short our the nonused lines. If lightning hit directly it can go where it will. Sorry for so many words - do your homework and do the best you know. You can’t make everyone happy. Lol. All the best. 73 de KI5HXM
I agree that the subject of grounding is most of the time fighting words as there are so many opinions on the subject as there are Hams...LOL I have mine setup the way it is, it works for me. Is it the best? Maybe not, but I also disconnect everything ANY time there is a storm in the area. I don't mind doing it and it guarantees my equipment is protected. I appreciate the comment and the input. Thank you for watching. 73!
NEC FORBIDS doing this.
It is FORBIDDEN by US NEC to add a ground to equipment on house power thats already on a grounded circuit.
This stupidulity violates US NEC
2011 250 24 (a)(5)
The reason youre confused and there are varying opinions is that none if you have the engineering and code knowlege to catch these liars and idiots advocating " groud your statiin
I set up a ground for my radios and the power supply. I used the same copper pipe inside, and a copper rod, 8 ft outside. The only difference is that I had to drive the rod at an angle. Rocky Mountains = Rocks, tons of them. No way to drive the rod at a 90 degree angle to the ground. I used an 8 gauge stranded copper wire to connect the ground pipe to the rod. All the equipment have flat straps that I got from DX Engineering.
So far, it’s all good!
Sounds like you found a viable solution and as long as it works, you're good! Thanks for sharing and for watching. 73!
Great video, but the copper pipe needs to be solid, ie use a grounding rod, and the hose clamps I would replace for something more conductive , like brass or copper, cheers Ade uk
I have made upgrades since this video and a new video is out on my updated shack and how I now ground and what precautions I take. Thanks for watching and for the comment. 73!
Thanks so much for sharing this! As you say, you can find lots of people spouting "theory" on YT but very few of them actually show you how to accomplish these things. Cheers!
Glad it was helpful! I try to do more "show you how", rather than "tell you how". I think it gets comprehended better that way. Thanks for watching and for the comment. 73!
I have tried to get a handle/understanding on this - I may not be smart enough. I am not an EE and some of the discussions I have read through seem to get pretty heated. Visuals w/ discussion(s) are very helpful for me. Thanks again for your efforts to share and thanks to the other commenters for helping me/us out! 73
No problem, glad to help. One of the most heated topics online or anywhere concerning ham radio is opinions on grounding. I say, do what works for you. There is a standard to follow, but don't overthink the process. Even with all of my ground rods and wires going everywhere, if I see a bad storm coming, I still unplug everything from my window passthrough and unplug the power supply from the wall. There is a huge investment in radios and equipment sitting in my shack and I am not about to lose it in the event of a storm and I get tagged with lightning. Thanks for watching. 73!
Perfect! needed the visual.. thanks for putting this together.. funny how something so simple can become overly complicated.
Keep it simple seems to work just fine. Grounding is one of those hot topics that many get up in arms over. Do what you can the best you can with what you can afford, if it works, it works! Thanks for watching. 73!
Is it bad that I’m still overwhelmed about how to ground my shack? How to ground on a second story, how to ground to the service ground, am I going to burn my house down …. Ugh! You did a great job showing yours. I’m just not confident in my skills.
I would suggest that you keep researching and see if there is anyone else out there that has a similar setup situation like yours and see what solution they came up with. I wish I had more knowledge to be able to tell you a great way to accomplish your goal, but it would be guessing at this point. Thanks for the comment. 73!
100%! It seems a lot of hams ARE NOT video friendly presenters. They simply want to set up their camera, talk about something... and that's it. It's like they don't grasp the reality that this is a visual medium.
IMHO, this is one of the reasons our hobby seems to be dying. Too many older hams are of the mindset. "I know what I know, and I'm taking it to my grave."
The younger generation are used to being shown how to do things, not just talked at.
I'm getting back into the hobby after a long absence.
Thanks for the tips on your shack.
73s!
N9PWW
Thank you for sharing that! I just came out with a newer video updating the grounding issues with my shack. Check it out because there is some great information there. Thanks for watching and for the comment. 73!
You could use an electrical breaker box grounding bar instead of that copper tube arrangement. I think the setscrews that attach the wire to the grounding bar make a better electrical connection versus the connection made by a common hose clamp. Just thought I would pass that along.
Thank you for that suggestion. I am constantly tweaking the design. Thanks for watching and for the comment. 73!
Just starting to set up and I decided to use a bus bar on the wall for a common ground. Not going to be pretty like copper but it will do the job.
I have a ground rod at the entrance to my house with an arrestor attached to the ground rod. I run 4 ga wire from the ground rod to the mains ground. I do not ground my equipment. In the event of a lightening strike your grounded equipment is toast. If your concerned about strikes then unplug your rig, disconnect the coax. Grounding your equipment will not save it from a strike. If your not having issues without the ground then don’t bother. The ARRL sells a book on bonding and grounding. It’s very good.
I do exactly that now, I unplug everything if a storm is approaching. I ma also getting ready to do a show talking about this topic that should be out next week. Thanks for watching and for the comment. 73!
Nice setup. I have a solar system that has three 8 ' rods tied to my service panel I ran a 6 awg bare copper back to my service panel my noise floor dropped to a 1/4 of what is was before. I'm working on a lightening suppressor using multiple spark plugs. There cheap easy to use and are adjustable via gapping.
Very nice! I am still trying to figure out how to run a wire to the service ground without seeing it...no way to bury it with my setup. Thanks for the comment and for watching!!! 73!!
Hi Ray!
Interesting comment. Do you have a source for creating, calibrating and installing the spark plug lightning arrestors? I'd love to follow in your footsteps.
Kind regards,
John - KK7JBZ
Also to test new ground rod it must be 25 ohms or less to a known ground . In sand sometimes a ground plate is better. Salty soil grounds better. Dont use plumbiing pipes as ground even though that was done years ago.
Thank you for that info. I agree 100% that there is no need to tie your ground into your internal plumbing pipes. That may have been a trend back in the 70's, but no longer. Thanks for watching and for the comment. 73!!!
I have been searching for a simple method for installing an RF ground in my ham shack, and I must say that this explanation is the best one I have come across so far. Although other videos were also informative, none of them were as concise, clear, and straightforward as this one. I have only one question: Have you observed any reduction in RX noise? Thank you, and 73.
I am glad the video helped you out. As to your question, I can't really say due to the solar panel neighbor that is emitting a ton of RFI. Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!
It seems everyone has a method of grounding their station - some don't ground anything.
I worked for NASA and WSMR as an engineer for 26 years and the way they grounded the large mainframe computers is to build a grid of one foot wide copper roll all going across each other in a grid pattern and soldered together, covering completely under the entire computer room and grounded it at one end to a deep ground stake. Before the copper strip was laid down, a wider piece of heavy-duty plastic was rolled out and the foot wide copper roll was laid on top of the plastic, insulating it from the cement floor. They had soldered ground lugs all along the copper strip and lastly laid another covering of plastic on top of the copper, taping it all down with heavy duty tape. All that stuck thru the top plastic was the grounding lugs that the equipment was attached to with pieces of copper wire with at least #6 wire. You can see this makes a fairly large distributed capacitor to ground. - A bit overkill for us ham radio operators - but - in a much smaller sense I do a similar thing by laying a sheet of aluminum (like a 19" aluminum panel plate) on the basement tile in my case, and attach each piece of equipment to that one plate with grounding lugs and then connect the plate at only one point to a ground stake or cold copper water pipe. My thoughts are - the plate is (in my case) a small capacitor to RF ground and the copper wire is the DC and 60 Hz connection. Works for me. No grounding at all, can (and has for me), caused RF bites when the lips touch a metal microphone like the D-104. Better to ground than not ground. 73 WA4QGA
Thanks for sharing that! I think we each individually need to assess our situation and what we are ultimately looking to do to ground our gear. Using common sense is paramount to getting an effective setup. Sounds like the configuration you went with works well for you! Thanks for watching and for the comment. 73!!
Ground clamps are better transfering any electrical surge than the hose clamps. Also if possible, bond the equipment ground rod to the house electrical ground rod to make it easier and faster to disipate any lightning or electrical overcurrent. The grounded metal plate of your window pass through will basically do the same as the lightning arrestors because the pl259 connectors are bonded to the metal plate by means of the tightening nuts and the plate has the ground wire attached to it. Just my two cents.
Electrically and logically, as long as the copper bus bar and the wire or braid leading to the grounding/earthing rod are solidly mechanically connected, it can't make any difference what's keeping that mechanical connection in place as long as whatever it is won't let go during a surge. A steel hose clamp on a copper pipe could be a corrosion issue if it were in a damp environment--that's the reason for using a copper clamp outside.
I appreciate the input! I know that I have some work to fine tune this, but for now it seemed to work. Thanks for the comment. 73!
The lightening arrestor is designed to ground the center of the coax, only grounding the braid doesn't do the same thing as a lightening arrestor.
On your outside ground rod we used Cadwell connecter and added a Nicole (5 cent) for better metal blend. The cadwell is a item you set on the rod add the wire and light with a Torch. Kind regards. David
Great tip! Thank you very much! Thanks for watching and for the comment. 73!!!
1" wide braid from your gear to the pipe. Flatten the pipe. 1" braid from the pipe to your clamp. keep your grounds as short as possible. use 8 ft ground rod.
Thanks for the tips! I was looking for some braided copper strap. However, I will have to order it because the home stores nearby don't carry anything like that. Thanks for the comment and for supporting the channel! 73!
@@HR4NT thewireman.com/product-category/grounding-lightning-protection/tinned-copper-braid/
Brad,
What is the purpose of flattening the pipe? If that is better, would copper rod be best, and if so, what diameter?
Thanks,
John - KK7JBZ
@johnbauman4005 you run a 1 " wide strap from each piece of gear to the flatten pipe, then run a strap to the ground rod outside. You never daisy chain from one to the other ex radio to tuner then out to rod. You want them separate
@@BradKellison Brad, thank you. I got that part, I just don't understand why the pipe would need to be flattened.
73,
John - KK7JBZ
It's a little thing, I know, but when you drove the copper ground rod into the earth, you flattened the top, which will make it hard to remove your clamps. Instead, go hammerless: Take a bucket of water out with you. Poke the rod into the ground a couple of inches, then pull it out and fill the hole with water. That will make it easier to poke the rod a little deeper. Do it again and again until your rod is at the right depth. Anyway, it works in south Louisiana, where the soil is sandy and soft.
Good idea, but the ground here is clay which is why i had to beat the crap out of it to get it in the ground...LOL Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!
Your video is contrary to what ARRL recently put out on station grounding, I originally grounded my station similar to yours, but now I'm debating undoing the wire down to the ground rod.
I may have to go and see that article you are referring to. Thanks for watching and for the comment. 73!
Great information my friend,… watching from Kentucky
Glad you enjoyed it and hope that it helped a bit. Thanks for watching. 73!
Looks solid to me! Bout what I'm going to do. I like your copper pipe bus, but I'd already bought a really nice heavyweight busbar. Got it cheap on fleabay! Lovin your channel!!! Good stuff no BS !!!
Hey if you got a good deal on that then go with it. I did this back when I first started in ham radio and my resources were limited. Glad you have a solid solution! Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!!
Wow ok that makes lots of sense because I been studying for the general and I keep seeing questions on bonding enclosures it really means grounding stuff I literally thought you glue enclosures together. thanks for clarifying it 73, KQ4HCU
LOL...no problem. Glad to help whenever I can. I am glad you enjoyed the video and I wish you the best of luck in passing your General exam! Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!
great video, only addition i would recommend is adding some thought into RF ground (static) versus lightening suppression. you have a very good setup for dispersing static and ground loops in your radio equipment, would recommend having another grounding rod for your lightening suppression separated as much as possible or away from the house if possible. love your channel.
Great tip and a good point. I appreciate the input! Thanks for the comment and for the support! 73!
that is not at all code
@@bigdEnergy666 Please elaborate. Could use an explanation.
one thing to keep in mind is - for every 1000 volts you can have 1 inch spark so when we are talking about hunderd of thousands volts in a one lightning it could probably jump from the window well to the copper grounding point . Not sure how those lightning arresters work. Cool video thou !
That is something I did not consider. Thank you. I unplug everything each time a storm is approaching, so that gives me peace of mind that I won't fry my radios. Thanks for watching and for the comment. 73!
Thanks for this video. Been an operator for a year, and just am now getting the time to really do some of this. This was the most informative video on the subject so far.
Thank you very much. I try to be as detailed about projects like this on my channel because of other videos NOT having that info out there and it seems you are always left with more questions. So hopefully this will help and you can knock it out easily. Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!
We're lucky around here (Houston metro area) with respect to lightning though... You seldom see houses around here with lightning rods, but I've noticed a lot more in the Dallas area with them... Personally, I'm relying on the fact that the Crazy Indian Old Lady that lives next door to me is in a 2-story house and I'm in a 1-story... :) When I was living in Louisiana 50+ years ago, it seemed that people just relied on the pine trees to act as lightning rods... :)
LOL...wow...yeah I have not seen lightning rods anywhere around either. Let the two-story take the brunt of it...LOL....Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!
@@HR4NT -- Your subdivision looks like it has underground power lines. We do too, but I also have a higher line running along my back property line that abuts the greenspace / levee. It has a ground line at the very top and is probably even taller than my neighbor's 2-story house... Odds are that it would get stuck first... I'm not *too* concerned about lightning striking my house... I used to live in house in north Louisiana that had a 100 ft tall pine tree in the backyard... It got stuck by lightning when I was less than 20 ft from it working on a project in the backyard... The bark EXPLODED out the side of it and I hit the ground... Pine trees make very good lightning rods... Often works out to be single use though since they will often die after getting hit... And then you have to wait around another 50-100 years for a new one to get the same height... :)
Great video! Nicely done. Just a quick note at 3:38 ...it might be better to ground your antenna after it is disconnected....just disconnecting the antenna could allow it to bring hv discharge into your shack. Also, please get some grounded spark gap lightning arresters sooner rather than later! 73
I actually just ordered some yesterday that should be in Friday. I appreciate the input. Thank you for the comment and your support! 73!!
@@HR4NT I was going to suggest Polyphaser for lightening protection, but I figured you would have got something already considering this video is a year old. 73 KD5YOU
Amplifiers need a ground because the case seems to radiate r f. Also run a bonding wire around house to power in ground your outlet ground and your ground rod will show voltage mite bite a little between radio and your ground rod.
I did not know that about amplifiers. Thanks for sharing. Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!
Hi Scot, I'm doing the same job this weekend thanks for the video bud - 73's
Good luck! What I did seems to have worked fine so far. Hope you have similar or better results! Thanks for watching. 73!!
old school lightning arrester used a Champion CJ7 or CJ8Y spark plug connect the body to ground and the electrode end to the drive on your cable, if lightning strikes the antenna, or near the antenna the static will jump the gap instead of blowing the radio, there is also the Nasa way which uses a huge photo strobe (the old flash bulb kind, not the modern Xenon strobe tube) its a one strike kind of thing and opens the circut completely in the event of a lightning strike or near strike, the spark plug trick was told to me by a ham in my car club, the photo flash bulb trick was from an engineer that apparently worked out at cape Canaveral, from what i've seen most lightning protection systems are just a spark gap to ground or some sort of fuse-able link setup, hope that helps, also great setup but you do want to keep your grounds as short as possible to prevent an imbalance of potentials which can lead to radio damage or risk of shock
Thank you very much for those tips. I will have to look into them more closely. Thanks for watching. Have a great week! 73!
Any mechanical connection that can be refreshed by turning a screw once in a while works for me. The hose clamps around the 1" copper pipe may not be as refreshable as a pipe clamp, threaded with a pointed screw that impinges directly into the pipe (which can be tightened once in a while). The 6 gauge wire can be clamped under a screw head that is threaded into the pipe clamp (which can also be tightened once in a while). Just my two cents coming from years of GROUND BREAKING HEADACHES!!!!!!!
Hi Dan, I appreciate the tips. I am going to continue to fine tune my setup and suggestions are always welcome. Gotta protect that investment sitting in the shack! Thank you for the comment and the support of the channel. 73!!!
thank you!
You're welcome! Hope it helped! 73!!
I also agree with Ricardo regarding ground clamps but i disagree bonding the equipment ground to the house ground your radio shack should be seperate from the house ground and have its own grounding rod as you have done , great video very informative.
I am glad you enjoyed the video. Thank you for the comment! 73!
If within the same structure it must have a common ground with everything bonded to it so that a fault will clear locally. If a separate structure is designed, it must be a separately derived system. No ground wire carried to the source but a new ground system with the neural/ground bonded at the out building so that a fault will clear locally. There, all devices will be grounded to that system including antennas. Attempting to create an isolated ground within an existing system will cause an inductive loop when you plug to the house. Ground potential occurs here and could be dangerous and noisy. 73
Great video. I’m working on my grounding right now.
Awesome! When you get it up and running, take pics and post them in the FB group. Maybe other can benefit from your project. Thanks for the support and the comments. 73!!!
I'm new to HF. I have a 'loaned to me' Kenwood 570D and I hooked up a Vibroplex Endfeedz 135' wire antenna which is about 14' off the ground. Even though I've talked to a ham in Australia and one in Hawaii, both reported that my audio was bad, really bad, though they were able to make out my callsign. My stuff is currently not grounded. Since I'm really new to HF, this is frustrating. I just want to turn on the radio - and talk to the world - without any problems. Gee, I'm probably the only one who thinks like that eh? :D So, to ground or not to ground. I've heard both sides of that. I get little 'shocklets' from time to time when I move around the shack (which is a 10x12 Bully Barn), but I've always gotten little shocks everywhere long before I became a ham, so I'm not sure what to think about that. I appreciate your concise videos and I've watched many of them.
I am glad the video helped. I saw your other comment on my updated video on this topic. Thanks for watching and for the comment. 73!
Please bond your outdoor ground rod to your primary (main ac panel service) ground rod. Use 6awg as minimum. Rule: outdoors needs to be bonded together, inside needs to be bonded together. Both need to be bonded together. Bonding your equipment chassis with hose clamps is frowned upon. Use ground rod clamps with copper braid or 6awg wire and keep them short. Your a/c to dc power supply should not be bonded. Check to see if chassis is bonded to negative and remove if so. As long as your trans/recv is bonded you should be fine. Motorola r15 is amazing resource. Outside grounds bond together. Inside grounds bond together. Bond in and out together.
I am still working on solutions for grounding and bonding. I will not have an exposed wire going around my house to do so which means I need a better solution. Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!!
@@HR4NT You could use as minimum 6awg thhn as NEC requires to bond all of your grounding electrodes together. If you can, minimize sharp bends in your bonding, otherwise employ large curves. Until you have a single point ground, your safety and your equipment is at high risk. Good luck and 73.
Great topic for the video and it's also generated a lot of discussion in the comments which is good for everyone to share their knowledge, as like you said, besides picking up the bits and pieces from the references to the grounding etc on various channels, the actually tracing it all out physicall, on video, with discussion at the various points of reference isn't as easy to come by, or sometimes understand. An important topic. thank you.
One of the main things I want this channel to do is get people communicating and sharing ideas so the comments are always welcome. Glad you enjoyed the video and that is brought value to you! Thanks for watching and for the comment. 73!
Great just add your lighting protection to the ground rod
That's the plan! It seems to be working for the past few months since the video was shot. Thanks for watching. 73!
all my grounding, bonding publications say the the ground rod and the clamps should be below grade meaning you drive the whole arraignment until it's covered over by earth. According to code that is, however the electricians who built this system in '46 and the guys that put in my solar in 2017 and the county Inspector at that time, apparently never read this part of the code.
Interesting. The ground to my house that was put in decades ago is sitting a few inches above ground with the ground wire from the breaker attached. I have never heard of burying it completely underground for effectiveness. Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!!
@@HR4NT I saw that in the "Grounding and Bonding for the Radio Amateur" by H. Ward Silver an ARRL publication. I agree. My ground rod are the same way. I guess local building code has a different take on grounding and bonding. 🤷🏼
Disconnecting your coax cables is the best lightning protection for your hamshack.
That is exactly what I decided to do and have for years now. Never have an issue. Thanks for watching and for the comment. 73!
@@HR4NT You're most welcome sir. Nice video by the way, exchanging ideas means a lot for us to enjoy the hobby more in a safe and organized manner. All the best....
I have a 200-watt Yaesu 101MP, upgrade from my 991A. Been running barefoot w/ no ground now for many months, but I just bought the Palstar matching linear amp & tuner (ab 800w @120v), & now I have no choice but to ground everything or they won't work! Learning along w/ u! I'm lucky to have a communications professional who does all my work, The ARRL Grounding Book suggests a connection between my station & the house electrical panel. I doubt I'll be going that route. Bottom line is I need to see a 1:1 SWR w/ an 800-watt output. DXcc dp antenna. Pretty basic.
I hope that whatever solution you end up going with will produce the desired results you seek. Keeping it simple seems to be a pretty good start and then if you have to optimize it further, you can. Thanks for sharing and for the comment. 73!
cheers for that from uk
Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!
Look at the Polyphasers that you can install on the outside where the antenna connection comes into the house. They are the best on the market that I have found.
I was having issues finding any good info on the various brands and models to choose from. Since shooting this video, Polyphasers have come up a number of times. Thank you for teh suggestion. I will look more deeply into them. 73!!
One very important thing is missing. You’ve driven a ground rod for your ham gear and antenna, but this ground rod MUST be properly bonded to your home’s electrical service ground rod. However many outdoor ground rods you have, they must be bonded together. Otherwise in the event of a lightning strike on your antenna, you may have a voltage differential between your ham rod(s) and your home electrical service ground rod. That will create a path to draw the lightning up into your home electrical system and can cause serious damage, including fire. All your exterior ground rods MUST be bonded together to avoid this kind of disaster. Check out Ward Silver’s “Grounding and Bonding for the Radio Amateur” from ARRL. This is a requirement of the NEC. Not optional. DE N3CLO Patrick
Thanks you for the insight. I have since made a new video with a new technique for my grounding that is a better solution. Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!
That is why you drive a ground rod for a subpannel and bond it via house ground and use brass grounding clamps.
Great video show and tell works ever time. One suggestion how about a list of product and where they came from. We’re did the clamps that look like bells come from and what is their real name. I am in the process of building the window. How do u lock window? After installing
Hi John, The bell things are actually called "copper bell pipe hangers" I got from Home Depot. The majority of the grounding stuff came from Home Depot. The way I locked the window after installing the passthrough was to use two screws at the point where the window seals with the passthrough installed. I works very well and prevents the window from moving. I hope this helps. Email me from my website if you need any further assistance. Thanks for watching and for the comment. 73!
I have not looked at all the comments. Just maybe 10 or so. Here are my comments:
1. braided straps between your common grounding bus and the equipment and from the bus to your pass-through.
2. 6 gage stranded (bare) wire from the outside of the pass-through to the ground rod. It is best to bury it and the top of the ground rod.
3. 6 gage stranded (bare) wire from the shack's ground rod to your service ground. (This will reduce QRM and prevent a ground loop.)
When and If you decide to put the ground rod close to the shack, stay at least 3.5 feed from the foundation wall (to avoid the foundation's footing),. which also eliminates the foundation from hampering the conductivity of the soil. Add a bus bar to the top of that ground rod to connect the lightning arrestor(s), the shack, and the other grounds. Every thing connected in series outside of the house. (except the lightning arresters on the outside bus bar.)
Those are all good and valid suggestions. Thank you. I am still trying to source a local place around me to find that braided strapping. As for placement, I am limited somewhat by my surroundings and location of my shack currently. I do appreciate all of those suggestions and have copied them to a document to go over in detail. Thanks for watching., 73!
200 feet of copper ribbon is what’s recommended
For a real ground. Or your copper water main if you have one.
Thank you for the info. I recently made another video with updates to this one showing how I finally resolved my grounding issue and a surprising article on why IU did what I did. I hope you check it out. Thank for the comment and for watching. 73!!
As an electrician I would recommend running your ground wire also to the incoming water supply line form your street or well pump as long as it is copper pipe not PVC. This will insure a real ground. Just a ground rod may cause greater issues if there was a lighting strike on one of your antennas.
Unfortunately that supply line is over 100 feet away on the other side of the house from the location of my shack. The feedback from this video so far is going to spawn an updated video showing a bit more detail on my situation and some clarifications as well. Thank you for the suggestion and for watching. 73!
Been Holding off on putting up this Antenna until I figured out the ground issue as I live in severe lighting prone West Palm Beach, Florida and I'm really happy that I came across this comment by Common Sense to ground to the main water supply line as well, as I had intended to ground the antenna the base of my electric meter ground rod only... I now intend to ground to both of them unless it's not recommended.... Thanks.
A lot of newer homes, mine included, use a non-metallic water supply line, and most of the internal plumbing is Pex.
@@HR4NT -- Since your house was built in 1976, you probably either have a galvanized steel or polybutylene water supply line... On one of the previous houses that I owned in this area, it had the polybutylene pipe (outside) and it seems that I was always having to put repair couplings on it due to leaks... Another house that I owned had interior galvanized water lines from around 1983 and I had pinhole leaks all the time in the pipes running through the attic... From what I understand, they used Chinese import galvanized pipe back then and it just did not have a heavy galvanized coating on it... My current house is all copper interior pipe and I've only had 2 leaks in the last 20 years...
It's quite possible though that a good ground rod at your current location is going to be better than running a wire all the way to your water supply line... Running a wire under the concrete of a driveway or sidewalk is not that difficult -- just make a "water drill" out of some PVC pipe and dig holes on each side of the piece of concrete that you need to go under... Of course, with the clay soil around here, I try to avoid digging whenever possible... :)
Thx for the "nuts and bolts" version.
It might not be the best job, but it works. Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!
KE0OG and others show running a 6 gage wire between your ground rod to the ground rod at your electric service entrance. You now have two grounds at your house and that is a safety issue..
I have come up with a new solution and a video explaining my solution. The setup in this video is/was too complicated. Check out that other video if you get a chance. Thanks for watching and for the comment. 73!
My setup is very similar, I just bought a bus bar instead of using a copper pipe, honestly I imagine the copper pipe and bus bar would do the job equally. 73 de KF0CLZ
I think you are correct. I just grabbed what I had read in an article that suggested the pipe route. Thanks for watching and for the comment! 73!
I’ve run into the same thing, thanks for doing this video!
No problem. I hope it helped out a bit. Thanks for watching and for the comment. 73!
By the way, great videos with good simple to understand information.
Glad you enjoyed the videos! I have a lot more coming out soon that I hope will be equally informative and interesting. Thanks for watching and for your support 73!!
The equipment is grounded if your house ground is functioning (and if it carries to the 12 volt system). I would not recommend bringing a ground wire from the outside into your shack. that is a fast track for lightning. I am just musing from my electrician days for server colocations. Maybe it is different for ham radios? Great video!
Thanks for the info. I have an updated video with my new 2023 solution that resolves most of this. I hope you check it out. Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!
This will create a ground loop. At that power supply, you'll have one ground on the case from your rod and a second ground on that case from the 3rd prong of the AC power plug. Those two grounds will NOT be at the same potential and a current will flow. There's your ground loop. The rod you installed outside and the ground at the AC service panel need to be connected, and by some other means than the case of your power supply. :)
If I could figure a way to connect them being that they are 20 feet apart, I would. Thanks for the comment and for watching!!! 73!!
@@HR4NT Inside the house, attach some solid #6 to the bus bar in your shack (your copper pipe) and then run that to the bus bar in the breaker box that the main service ground rod is attached too. Don't have to mess with the service ground rod outside at all. Bonding these two ground systems together is actually required in the NEC.
Thanks for the video. I read competing theories about grounding on the internet. One is that running a copper braid from a buried copper rod to inside the shack only invited lightning indoors. The other is that ALL equipment and antennas should be bonded together to ground where the AC line comes in. Of course that begs the question: what if your shack is on the other side of the AC line entry? My shack has a small copper pipe similar to your set up with braided wire running to it and bonded there. From there it's bonded with copper to the metal bulkhead in the window coax entry. Outside I have an 8' copper rod in the ground with copper strip running to the bulkhead. I'm in FL so I did a bit of study on how to do it right, but perhaps I should consult the ARRL Antenna Book on proper grounding. I am also very diligent about disconnecting ANY coax from the bulkhead when there's any threat of T-storms. Your setup looks solid!
You nailed it! I made a newer update video on this topic and that is my solution...unplug everything if you are not using it or a storm is coming. Works every time 100% of the time. Just a little inconvenient but better than $5000 in repair s and replacement radios and gear. ruclips.net/video/ed0N5b6yeZg/видео.html Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!
Yes and right on the money close up you rock. 7 3 and thanks for the camera man 7 3
Hey my wife will appreciate that. She is my cameraman for the shots that need to show more detail. Thanks for the support and for watching! 73!!!
Thanks for the great info
You are very welcome! Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!
This was really great to watch!
Thank you for actually showing the parts you used :) I appreciate that.
🤜🏻👍🤛🏻♡♡♡
No problem 👍! I try to make sure I give you guys as many details as possible to weed out any questions on the builds I do. Thanks for teh comment and your support! 73!!
Hey, thanks for the video. I noticed when you talked about maybe adding another ground rod, you pointed to the ground just beside the existing ground rod. You may want to check my facts but I believe there are requirements about the distance between ground rods. I read that they should be no closer together than the length of the rod. So, If you use 8' ground rods, they should be 8' apart, or greater, and bonded together. Again, do some research because I am just learning too.
I actually shot a follow up video to this one a couple days ago. I have made a few changes and these seem to work out just fine. I added that other ground rod later on after this video, but have since abandoned it. Check out the update video. Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!
The aluminum plate interface is not good for connecting to copper wires. That should be a sheet of copper or brass. If you insist on using the aluminum you will need an inti-oxident at the places where the aluminum touches the copper. As shown you will have a lousy ground to your system components as time passes. The outdoor will oxidize quickly because it is exposed to the elements. Like mentioned already do not use hose clamps but connectors made for grounding systems.
I just answered a comment form you pertaining to this and in there I stated that I simply copied some of the materials used by MFJ in their window passthrough. I get it that copper may be better, but to date I have had zero issues with this project and it works perfectly. Thanks for the suggestion. Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!
Good stuff!
Great video.
Thanks for the upload
Glad you enjoyed it! It will be a work in progress, but at least I have it documented and hopefully it will help others down the road. Thanks for the continued support! 73!
Go to the arrl / Grounding and Bonding
Instructions confusing. Now all I do is scare my cats.
Yeah....NO. LOL. This channel was created because the instructions i did find for various things in this hobby are NEVER explained in a way that anyone can just research and follow. So, I try to simplify it and show exactly what to do without giving bad information. Thanks for the comment and your support! 73!!
@@HR4NT Just a Quick note you are better using flat cable of bonding and if you can change the pipe clamps to copper ones
Nice job man. Thanks for sharing your input on the grounding system and explaining it very simple. Keep up the great videos. Merry Christmas to everyone and happy New Year.. be safe and stay well. DESPERADO 56 north side of Tampa Florida waving a hand
Thank you very much for the comment. I am glad that my videos bring value to you! Thanks for watching. 73!
Mine is set up the same way never had a issue
Yeah despite some of the criticism I got after posting this video, I have had zero issues. Thanks for watching and for the comment. 73!!
Great Video. Very helpful .
I am glad you enjoyed the video! Thank you for watching and for the comment. 73!
Great video your grounding is perfect
Thanks 👍 I appreciate that! Thanks for watching. 73!
There's a whole lot of grounding info out there. I will just repeat what I've seen. The dat I've seen says each piece of equipment MUST go from that equipment to the ground rod. But having all pieces connect to a bar or copper piece before it gets to the ground rod is technically a "Ground Loop".
I am in the process of re-doing the whole system including bonding my shack ground rod to the house ground rod. The motorola package on communications grounding repeats this last thing over and over. That may fix my minor problem. I hope.
I recently uploaded a new updated video on this topic and my new solution to it. Check it out and let me know what you think. Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!
Hey man great video. Based on my area space outside there will be special steps that I will have to take to get the radio radio itself (not the antenna grounding) properly grounded being that I live in a rental townhome. Grounding the antenna outside bring its own challenges but I think I will manage but the task of grounding the actual radio from inside the house is a whole higher level of challenge. Base on location of my radio in the house the ground wire from the radio to the grounding rod outside the home is supposed to be short in length. If it is very long and not short in length the ground wire may act as part of the actual antenna. The problem trying to ground my radio from inside the house is that from the location of the radio (in my house) to the point of where the wire has to be grounded (outside) is about 30 -35 ft between each other. This is way too long for a grounded wire. And I can't move the radio toward a window because I don't have a window in a location where I can set up the radio. I have two of my friends who ground their antenna however they do not ground their IC-7300. Just trying to figure out if that is really possible to get away with.
I wouldn't overthink it. I grounded my radio by using a 1 inch copper pipe under my desk and added grounding straps to that. HOWEVER, even though I do have my antennas grounded, I still don't trust it with my investment in al the gear, so what I do is whenever there is a storm coming, I unplug EVERYTHING from the wall AND I unplug my antennas from the radio until the storm has passed. Might not be the most convenient, but it is a guarantee that no matter what, my gear is 100% protected through a storm. If I am going opt be away for a bit, i also unplug everything just to be safe. There are tons of grounding solutions and you just have to find one that suits your needs and will portect your ham gear. I hope this helps. Thanks for watching, have a safe holiday and thank you for the comment. 73!
@@HR4NT Yeah the grounding you have under your desk is what I am going to build myself. My only issue is that when I create the same grounding setup you have under your desk I will not be able run the ground wire to the rod outside as the the nearest window is far from my desk. Anyways, thank you for all of your help. You are very appreciated for all the help you provide and all the time you give to everyone. Happy holidays to you my good ham brother. 73
very good explanation, question: how thick is the ground cable wire from the rod to the shack ? and also to the radio apparatus e.t.c. Thank you
I used 6 gauge wire outside. I have since modified my grounding and have a newer video explaining my new methodology. Thanks for watching and for the comment. 73
I wish someone would do a video like this on grounding if you live in an apartment. Years ago, when I got my Novice license, I remember the universal recommendation was to run a wire braid to a cold water pipe. That no longer applies since most plumbing in apartments these days is PVC., Copper is too expensive.
In a situation where your construction is limited such as an apartment, I wouldn't worry about it. Instead, maybe just have that pipe under your ham shack like I do and when either a storm is coming or you are not using it, unplug the antennas and anything plugged into the wall until it passes or you plan on operating. It is a pain, but will resolve 98% of that issue. Even grounded, I unplug everything when a storm is coming just because losing thousands of dollars of gear is NOT an option. Thanks for watching and for the comment. 73!!
@@HR4NT I am planning on taking down antennas every day when the sun comes up anyway. No I am NOT a VAMPIRE. I live in the central business district of a major city. I am on the 5th floor of a 100 year old 7 story building that is owned by a State Agency. So nothing outside the windows.a So my plan is to use :
#1 A glass mounted 2m/70cm antenna designed for a car. Those are fairly small and unnoticeable.
# 2 Several resonant speaker wire dipoles mounted cross wise on wall hooks inside the apartment for 2m/6m/10m/15m and 20m. The building walls are concrete and I do not know if the exterior walls have rebar in them so those may not work. But I will give it a shot anyway.
#3 The MFJ-1625 Apartment antenna. That is a 12 foot telescoping whip with a base coil and an included turner. Their site says it works from 6m to 80m. I have read 5 good reviews of it so far. But would a seller put bad reviews on their site ??
@@John_Henry83 It sounds like you have a very good solid plan going there. I think you are on the right track. Keep in touch let me know how it all fans out for you. Thanks again for commenting and reaching out to me. 73
Excellent video. As you note, my most common question in this and other areas of life, "I understand the theory of what you're saying, but what does that look like in my life?" I mean, what does it look like when the rubber actually meets the road?
Yeah the topic of grounding is like bringing up politics at a family function...LOL It causes a lot of discussion both good and bad. I have been told my method is wrong, however it seems to have been working just fine for the past year without issues..so...Thank you for the comment and for watching. 73!
Can you comment about why or why not to use the house grounding system? Could you plug into the ground prong of an electrical outlet?
Mainly because you could get noise by doing that as well as if there is a direct lightning hit to your antenna, you do not want everything attached to the stuff in your house. A direct hit, nothing will survive that. I made a follow up video to this one talking about my new technique and what I do now to resolve the issue once and for all. Thanks for watching and for the comment. 73!
My Grounding and Bonding book doesn’t come close to explaining compared to actually seeing how someone bonded and grounded their equipment. Good video. I admire your clean and simple pass through panel as well and the uncluttered setup in everything I’ve seen. Do you plan to bond your shack ground rod to your service rod? It’s unclear to me when or if that’s needed.
You know, I am still contemplating how to do that cleanly so that I don't have a bunch of wires all over the place. My breaker box is a bit of a distance from my shack and there are sidewalks and doors and stuff that i would have to navigate around to make it presentable. Going to have to look into this more for sure! Thanks for the comment! 73!!
@@HR4NT I am dealing with a similar issue of bonding my equipment ground to the utility service ground, which is ~150' away on the other side of the house with a driveway, sidewalks and other barriers to laying a bonding wire. Will be interested if you do a future video on how best to accomplish that. Thanks, 73
Why can you not just ground to your nearest electrical plug ground? Seems like it is all going back to the breaker and then to the ground rod your trying to get to…… but I’m no expert. Legitimately asking.
you should have drove a ground rod right next to the window and then bonded that to the service ground.. having such a long "ground run" from the window to there is not ideal at all... maximum of 5 ft between rods imho - coming from a cable company background this is what we were told. if we needed to put a rod in we had to bond it to the service ground, i've had to manually pound in 4 rods around the house to get to the service ground.
also, braided strap is better than wire,
I get that. My issue is that I have the rod below my window. About five feet away is another rod that goes into the back yard. To get to the service ground I have to go around the corner where I have a sidewalk and service entrance to the house. So unless I bury that wire under the concrete sidewalk somehow it will be exposed, in the way and annoying. That is the only reason that I have not connected it that way as of yet. If I find a solution, I will probably make an updated video. I do appreciate the info though. Thanks for watching and for the comment. 73!
@@HR4NT if u have one under the window and one 5ft away, i would at least bond the two together. You could get a potential difference between the two
EXCELLENT VIDEO. keep ‘‘em coming 73s W5ZM
Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!
You did a great job at showing how it's done. I was wondering if your antenna is grounded if it needs to be? Maybe you show that on another video ?
Thank you for the comment and for watching. Yes, I do have an update to grounding my shack in the list. I drove another ground rod where the antenna is attached to a lighting arrestor. It is a very short video. Thanks again, 73!!
I'm a "newbie" , and this may or may not be code, but all my station equipment is grounded with an old set of jumper cables to a copper pipe going through the basement wall. Antenna is in the tree, so not sure if that needs grounding....
I do not ground my antennas. If a storm is coming I simply unplug everything and hope that my antennas do not go through a direct strike. Been OK so far. Thanks for watching and for the comment! 73!!
I may have missed it, but when you went to the ground rod did you say it was the main ground rod for your power service entrance? That’s a very important point to make. Too many hams just add a ground rod for their radio and do not connect to the service entrance ground rod. The ground potential at one ground rod can be very different than at another during a surge or nearby lightning strike!
Actually no. The main service ground rod for my house is a bit away and around the corner from where I planted that rod. I cannot figure out how to get it connected without running a long wire around the house. Thanks for watching and for the comment. 73!!
@@HR4NT Same here. I did not want to run a long wire to connect the shack ground to the service entrance so on my new house I do not have a ground rod for the radio. I physically disconnect the feedline from the radio when not in use. In my case, mostly dipoles, there is no need for a ground for the antennas to work. If I had an end fed wire or something fed against ground it would be a different story and I would be forced to run the bonding wire to the service entrance or make sure the connection to the radio ground rod was physically disconnected when not in use. My suggestion is to never have a separate ground rod not bonded to the service ground. I am an EE with both power and electronics experience. I always ask my self WHY is something necessary. Like why do I need a ground with my radio? Sometimes there is no reason and some times there is. If there is a reason, I then ask what harm can come from adding one? The answer in my case was I did not need a ground. With an end fed antenna the answer would have been, yes I need one. Then I would ask what harm is there? Great potential harm if it is not bonded to the service entrance or physically disconnected during a thunder storm! I sure do not want the lightning to find its way from the shack ground rod through my radio and then the green wire in the power cable through the house to the service ground! The potential of the ground at the shack rod can be thousands of volts different than the service ground.
@@dandypoint thank you for the reply! I have two antennas I run permanently in my yard, the DX Commander and a Comet GP-9. Those run to my window passthrough. If there is a hint of a storm headed my way, I unplug everything from the wall and the passthrough, thereby rendering all my gear safe. That was my solution to the issue of running and 25 foot long ground wire to my main outside my house. Many will argue that it is wrong, but it seems to be working just fine. If I had another way to resolve this, I would most certainly do it, but would still unplug everything in the event of a storm. Thanks again! 73
@@HR4NT sounds like you are doing right. At least the same as me. I have used end fed antennas from time to time and disconnecting everything is safe.
One loose common wire and you will create a path right through your body to your ground rod. Congratulations.
Thanks for the tip! However I make sure frequently that everything is tightened up and in working order. Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!!
Check out HOA ham he just did this exact thing. And showed you how to do it driving ground rods and all.
Awesome! Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!
You need to use ground strap (not copper wire) if you want to properly ground your station. It's called "skin effect" and wire does little to fascilitate proper grounding at HF frequencies. Frankly with today's modern electrical systems and gear, grounding offers few benefits.
I am actually shooting a video about this topic this week. I agree, overthinking about grounding in modern day technology is a waste of time. Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!
@@HR4NT And 73 to you good sir. DE-K5LXY.
I want to have my communications center located upstairs but I continue to worry about the logistics of all the wiring, which antenna(s) to purchase and how all of this is going to come together. Not only the ground wiring but also the antenna(s) and what not.
Keeping all of this in mind while also adhering to the KISS method. Simple = Efficient. Sometimes I tend to overthink things to exhaustion which is entirely unlike me.
Our Construction Manager says that grounding should not be a problem. He is well aware that I absolutely refuse to cut any holes in our brand new home. By the way, we just got our closing date of July 13th. A full month ahead of schedule so we are really scrambling right now!
Anyway, he states that I could simply use the grounding rod that the house mains are built upon. Just run all the wires down/inside of the wall.
My question is whether the ground leads need to be kept as short as possible or will I be fine running them inside of the wall to the second floor?
This seems like a fire hazard in the event of a catastrophic failure. Of course, I always expect the worse - that way when something does occur, it is _usually_ not as bad as you had expected. _"Usually"_ being the keyword here if Murphy wasn't my constant companion. [Murphy's Law]
Honestly Scott, I wish there was a licensed-reputable business that employed actual professionals (not just some chump hired off the street with four hours of training) that could help you set up your rig and all the necessary equipment for basic operation. Both my wife and I would gladly pay for such a service.
As always, your straight forward, no nonsense, visually depictive approach to becoming a new HAM radio operator is a welcomed reprieve for individuals such as myself. On behalf of all the visual learners out there - Thank You once again.
Stay classy my friend.
Do not run ground wires through the house. The ground wires will act as an antenna so you want to keep them as short as possible. You want to get the ground wires out of the house as quickly as possible. Create a window passthru like he has and have your ground go out through that in your radio room, then down to the ground. You want to keep the it as short as possible so you don't pick up noise and don't have it radiating RF. You can make the window passthru like he did (he has a great video showing how to make one) or you can't get one from MFJ, depending on your budget.
Hey I really appreciate the comment! I am by far no electrician, however I agree with the comment below about NOT running ground wires through the wall. Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.
I originally wanted my station up in my studio, but the logistics of running wire, making it look presentable and dealing with grounding forced me to put it downstairs where it was a lot easier for me to deal with it on my own. As you stated there aren't really too many specialists in this field that I know of that could come out and at the least give me pointers on how to best connect everything. I love the comments and suggestions from this video and will utilize as much as I can to make sure I have it done correctly and efficiently.
As always I thank you for your support of the channel and I will keep it classy!!! 73!!!!
Bert ty for your echoing the thoughts and concerns of thousands of new Ham who just got Lic# Visual Learners! 7 3
To determine if the grounding is proper check the ordinances of your county or city, even better consult an electrician.
I made an update video with my new solution that is working out fine and is based on a study by another ham. However you are correct. Thanks for watching and for the comment. 73!
Good video. Gooder comment section. Well done all y'all.
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching, 73!
Great video!... but I have my rig FT950 and tuner + power supply in a cupboard 12 feet from my window (like you have in the video)
does the length of the copper wire make a difference ?
I doubt it. I have since made a new video with a new methodology that I think works a bit better. Check it out if you have a chance. Thanks for watching and for the comment. 73!!
@@HR4NT Will do cheers Mate! I have my antenna on a bracket on the wall outside my kitchen but the path at my back door has the main gas pipes running underneath them... (terraced housing etc) I'm gonna have to put the grounding rod further up my back green I dont want to find myself doing a flight to the moon lol..
Great video dude! I had done the exact same setup on mine. I do really hate your uncluttered shack. Just sayin. :)
LOL...I am sure that with time it will get cluttered to a point. Glad you liked the video. Thanks for the comment and the support of the channel. 73!!
Sir, in your video you show a copper tube with copper caps. Would you say the caps are necessary in the event of a electrical problem? I cannot find these at my local store for the tube I purchased and really don't want to buy another size just to get the caps and drive 30 mins away.
No. I mainly did that for aesthetic reasons. They offer nothing for performance or anything else. I hope this helps you out. Thanks for the comment. 73!!
What size of wire are you using from your radio/tuner/PS to connect to the copper pipe? I couldn't really see it. You're using the 8 gauge wire from your copper pipe to the pass through, then to the ground rod, but can't tell if you're using the same size from your radio to the pipe. Thanks.
I am actually using braided grounding straps made by ABR Industries and bought through Ham Radio Outlet. I bought the 5 foot versions for all of my radios and gear. The link to what I use is here: www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-012451 Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!
Those same connectors what u used to attach to radio? Model number for connections? Great setup. 73's
I "think" you were referring to Anderson Power Pole connectors? I have a whole video on making power poles and using them on all of your radios. ruclips.net/video/YjgqpmTVofI/видео.html Thanks for watching and for the comment. 73!
I love this video, but I can’t see where your grounds are attached to your equipment. Give these things more time and grab the wire you are talking about.
I have an updated video showing this. After this video I updated my grounding strategy to something that is easier to deal with and works 100% of the time. Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!