Posted: 12/28/2013 7:12:47 AM EDT
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I will have to drill a hole through the side of my house to get a ground wire out for the equipment in the shack. Obviously, I am not going to use strap (not cutting some huge hole in the side of the house), what gauge wire do most folks here run? |
| Don't use anything smaller that # 4 ga bare copper wire. Home Depot or Lowes sell it by the foot. Avoid sharp turns and make it as short as possible. Use Penetrox or similar electrical joint compound when connecting copper to copper to aluminum. Avoid copper coming in direct contact with galvanized metal. |
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Quoted:
Ground wire ... that sounds important. I just got a Kenwood TM-V71. RIght now it's not grounded at all. Am I going to die from RF burns or give myself cancer? At VHF frequencies, a ground wire usually isn't all that important in preventing RF burns, since VHF antennas almost never rely on a direct connection to earth ground for proper operation. However, it can be a damned good idea for lightning protection and static dissipation. What kind of antenna setup do you have? |
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Here is a link to a ground article I was sent: |
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Quoted:
... Obviously, I am not going to use strap (not cutting some huge hole in the side of the house)... Yeah, what kind of loser would cut a huge hole in the side of his house for copper strap? 
Station Grounding / Lightning Protection Pic Thread 
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I just ran 10ft of stranded 6AWG wire and an 8ft grounding rod today. I got about 6ft of it in the ground, but I cna't get it any further. I figured I'd get a bigger hammer drill and try it again, since my 3.2A craftsman hammer drill was groaning under the load.
So, it's quite deep anyway, and I terminated it into a "grounding bus" on a piece of plywood. It looks a like this: 
I noticed an immediate difference in both power output and in the noise floor. |
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Quoted:
I just ran 10ft of stranded 6AWG wire and an 8ft grounding rod today. I got about 6ft of it in the ground, but I cna't get it any further. I figured I'd get a bigger hammer drill and try it again, since my 3.2A craftsman hammer drill was groaning under the load. So, it's quite deep anyway, and I terminated it into a "grounding bus" on a piece of plywood. It looks a like this: https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Q6ubyBCI0fw/Ur9teIJhZwI/AAAAAAAADLc/5uOXeUrjeHw/w531-h708-no/IMG_20131228_193137.jpg I noticed an immediate difference in both power output and in the noise floor. Quoted:
I just ran 10ft of stranded 6AWG wire and an 8ft grounding rod today. I got about 6ft of it in the ground, but I cna't get it any further. I figured I'd get a bigger hammer drill and try it again, since my 3.2A craftsman hammer drill was groaning under the load. So, it's quite deep anyway, and I terminated it into a "grounding bus" on a piece of plywood. It looks a like this: https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Q6ubyBCI0fw/Ur9teIJhZwI/AAAAAAAADLc/5uOXeUrjeHw/w531-h708-no/IMG_20131228_193137.jpg I noticed an immediate difference in both power output and in the noise floor. That's a nice single point ground there awptickes. However, if your transmission and reception improved with the addition of a station ground it indicates that there are problems with your existing installation. http://www.w8ji.com/station_ground.htm From W8JI: A station ground will NOT.....
Help reception or transmission, or RFI or TVI, in a properly working station with properly functioning transmission lines |
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Well, I was running my station ground to the electrical mains ground. I can't say that I'm surprised that both tx and rx improved. I've heard that mains ground is akin to no ground.
ETA: I also moved the station from the 3rd floor to the ground floor, might have something to do with it too. |
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Quoted:
I also moved the station from the 3rd floor to the ground floor, might have something to do with it too. Yep, that can make a HUGE difference. If the length of the ground wire approaches 1/4 of the operating wavelength, it stops behaving like a ground - at least for RF currents. Generally, shorter is better. |
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Quoted:
Yep, that can make a HUGE difference. If the length of the ground wire approaches 1/4 of the operating wavelength, it stops behaving like a ground - at least for RF currents. Generally, shorter is better. Quoted:
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I also moved the station from the 3rd floor to the ground floor, might have something to do with it too. Yep, that can make a HUGE difference. If the length of the ground wire approaches 1/4 of the operating wavelength, it stops behaving like a ground - at least for RF currents. Generally, shorter is better. I think that explains it! 
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Quoted:
At VHF frequencies, a ground wire usually isn't all that important in preventing RF burns, since VHF antennas almost never rely on a direct connection to earth ground for proper operation. However, it can be a damned good idea for lightning protection and static dissipation. What kind of antenna setup do you have? Quoted:
Quoted:
Ground wire ... that sounds important. I just got a Kenwood TM-V71. RIght now it's not grounded at all. Am I going to die from RF burns or give myself cancer? At VHF frequencies, a ground wire usually isn't all that important in preventing RF burns, since VHF antennas almost never rely on a direct connection to earth ground for proper operation. However, it can be a damned good idea for lightning protection and static dissipation. What kind of antenna setup do you have? I suspect this will elicit groans from those in the know as well, but I've got a pair of copper J-poles, one for UHF and one for VHF, in the attic (which I think means that lightning and static aren't too big of a concern). |