On 27 Feb 2005 14:01:14 -0800, wrote:

It appears that my cold water pipe is made completely of copper (no

I get a lot of flack when I mention using a ground for my radio and
antenna because of electrical code. I don't believe that my station
causes a ground loop because of it's design, but there is the issue
for other places as well.

First of all, I have a deep cycle battery for a power supply for my
Icom 706 MKII. I use a smart charger to keep the battery charged.
The charger only uses two wires. The radio is grounded through a
lightning/static arrestor by way of the outer brass casing that screws
into the SO-239 connector on the radio. My ground is a copper pipe
stuck about 5 or 6 feet deep next to the window where the radio is
located. A large wire goes from the radio to the ground-rod.

The reason I feel this does not create a ground loop, is that the only
electricity is run through an isolation transformer (the charger) to
the twelve volt battery which powers only the rig and an emergency
light.

However, there are others with this issue. Assuming they have
'normal' stations, they are likely to have a 3-wire grounded power
supply or a radio with a grounded power supply built in. For these
people (and possibly me in the future) I am wondering about the best
means of a ground especially when the rig is far away from the
electrical panel.

My thought is to run a solid #8 wire underground from the electrical
ground rod to the closest point to the radio. There, set an 8 foot
ground rod giving a close to zero loss from the radio ground to the
electrical ground. The fact that the copper lead between the two rods
is buried will only improve the radio ground rather than create a
resonant loop.

Any thoughts?

Buck
N4PGW

--
73 for now
Buck
N4PGW