Dave wrote:
but rf doesn't flow 'into the earth'. rf current is always trying to
complete the circuit back to it's source... i.e. 'ground radials' under a
vertical are collecting the current and returning it to the feedpoint, so
they are actually 'sucking' rf out of the ground. the 'ground' connection
to a radio feeding a dipole is actually returning current from the ground
back to the feedpoint via the outside of the coax shield... that is why you
can get high voltages at the radio end of the cable, if too much current is
coupled from the antenna onto other conductors connected to 'ground' they
will feed current back through the radio 'ground' and out the shield of the
feedline to get to the feedpoint, and if you happen to be too close to the
antenna or some other object that couples the rf to you then you get burned
when the rf from you flows back to the radio when you touch something that
is 'grounded'.


"Bill Turner" wrote in message
...
An RF ground is where RF energy flows into the earth. A lot of folks
misuse the word "ground" when they really mean a common connection
point, which may or may not have anything to do with earth. Be careful
to define just what you mean.

Bill, W6WRT


------------ ORIGINAL MESSAGE ------------

On Sat, 11 Nov 2006 12:06:16 -0000, "David" nospam@nospam wrote:

What would you define RF ground as? There seem to be a lot of different
ideas.




Correct. If pink fairies dance the head of the pin, all bets are off.
Although everything applies if dancing blue fairies...

JS