That's called the riser and its suitability is dependent on how well
it's fastened to the meter box and how well the meter box is grounded.

When in doubt, do it by the book. 8' copper clad steel rod driven
into non-sandy earth. A coaxial grounding block (another reason RG-6
is ideal for SWL antennas) or an open wire lightning arrestor where
the feedline enters the building connected to the grounding rod with
splice free 10 g copper or 8 g aluminum.

On 05 Sep 2003 20:26:34 GMT, (DXer) wrote:

I was always told NEVER to use the hot water pipe, it can be dangerous. A
cold water pipe could be fine.
Using the house ground can sometimes work, I have seen hams use the "tube"
that brings the wires from the roof to the box with great success. Other times
using the house ground causes what is known as a ground loop and you can get
all kinds of noises.
A good ground is usually a 6' or longer copper ground rod or copper tubing
into the ground and just attach the ground wire to that. Just make sure you
know what is under the ground before you start pounding a ground rod into it.
The shorter the distance from the radio to the ground rod the better.
As for getting that 6' rod into the ground, that isnt always easy depending
on your soil. A root feeder can be of help. It will really get the ground rod
started in easily and soak the earth underneath as well.
I have also seen several ground rods used. Just attach a heave copper wire
to each ground rod and then the main one to the radio. This gives more ground
coverage.
Craig N0BSA