On Sat, 17 Apr 2004 18:42:44 GMT, zeno wrote:

Hi Bill,

By the points offered:

Then I turn around, and experienced hams are telling me the exact opposite, eg.
not to tie the RF ground to the house AC safety ground.

Experienced Amateurs (as distinct from experienced Professionals).

To tie the RF ground to
the house safety ground rod means a much longer run and thus the potential
problems of 1/4 wavelength resonance also mentioned here.

The basic confusion that arises is in the distinction between RF and
Mains ground. You can keep your RF ground rod (add some radials to it
to actually make it RF ground) as long as you tie it to the Mains
ground (usually in close proximity to the drop and meter). The
distance between THESE two points is immaterial RF wise as your RF
ground will insure little or no RF current travels to the Mains
ground. In THIS sense, they are separate.

If there is noise (RF) on the Mains, it may seek your RF ground
through this connection, but as long as you are not sharing it (you
are not using this lead to both connect your equipment AND connect the
two grounds) then there will be no problem.

You should have a lead from your equipment to the RF ground and THEN
to the Mains ground (two paths, one conductor) in that order:

MAINSGROUND-------------RFGROUND------------SHACK GOOD
MAINSGROUND----------SHACK-----------RFGROUND BAD

By the way, I am using an older Kenwood TS530S (until I get some experience and
decide to invest in a more current rig). Are current rigs now always with three
pronged polarized/grounded plugs? My unit here has a two prong non-polarized ac
plug, just like the old audio tube amps I still use for hi-fi.

Most rigs aren't AC powered at all - they require 13.6VDC that comes
from an AC powered DC supply. AC power is floating with a
Hot/Neutral. Neutral eventually finds ground but you are in jeopardy
of relying on that. Ground, the third wire, is a safety consideration
and is never expected to conduct current except as a consequence of
failure. Modern construction practices and code certainly mandates a
thick enough conductor, but not for the purpose of supporting power
needs.

In 1953 when I was first a novice, I used a bizarre little homemade transmitter
with one 117N7 tube which only plugged into one side of the house current!!!!

This is also from an era when newspapers reported the passing of
husbands or wives who, while washing the dishes, leaning on the stove,
playing with the toaster, putting down the iron, turning off the
mixer, or holding the refrigerator door.... leaned over to turn down
the radio volume - classic across the heart scenario - classic
results.

They were killed by "modern" engineering design techniques to reduce
noise (caps across the mains to the metal frame). Let's see, is it
suppose to plug in this way, or was it the oth.*#!!**#.....

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC