"Denny" wrote in message
ups.com...
To reiterate what has been said by others...
There are two issues here for your elevated ham shack... RF ground and
AC/DC ground... Not the same critters and in your case one will not do
both jobs...

First, for life and limb you need an AC/DC connection to the service
panel, i.e. local electrical ground... Length of this does not
matter... Second you need an earth ground as close to the rig as you
can get... As I read this you have dropped wire out the window to a
ground stake... Excellent, now get busy and continue on with that
ground wire also along the edge of the house to the electrical service
panel ground...

Now for the really important stuff, i.e. working DX, you need an RF
ground... In your case I suggest that you use a quarter wave length
insulated wire for each band you operate, attached to the common ground
behind the rig... Hang or fan them out the window, run them through the
ceiling to the attic, run them around the walls of the room, run them
down the hall behind the baseboard, just whatever you can do to spread
them out as long as possible .... Grounding a quarter wave radial at
the far end is not a good idea... Tape the end so no one can touch the
bare wire and leave it... That should cool off your RF problems...

GL denny / k8do


Ah yes, violate all NEC grounding rules in the name of propagation. Nothing
like having ground loops, eh?