"Thomas Horne" wrote in message
ink.net...
Roger wrote:
On Mon, 02 Apr 2007 04:08:47 GMT, Thomas Horne
wrote:

Jimmie D wrote:
"Dave" wrote in message
. ..
wrote in message
oups.com...
I would like to propose a grounding arrangement for my [hypothetical]
antenna and get some feedback on it. I have access to the
solid-copper
cold-water pipe that enters my home through the basement wall close
to the basement floor.
bad start

This pipe is used [in addition to cold water] for
the service entrance [circuit breaker box] ground.
thats bad news

I was thinking of putting an antenna outside on a pole and running
the coax into the
basement.
nope, not the way to do it right.

Then I would strip back several inches of the outer jacket
of the coax [axposing the braided shield] and connect the coax braid
to
the cold water pipe using several hose clamps. This should ground
the
coax directly to the service ground - the single point ground for the
house.
except the single point shouldn't be 'inside' the house.

I would add an arrester near the ground point. I would then run
the coax upstairs [about 10 feet] to the radio, where it would [via
the
PL-259] connect to the transceiver chassis. The radio chassis will
be
electrically bonded to peripheral equipment chassis'.
the radio chassis should be connected to the same single point ground,
and not via just the coax shield.

It seems that in the unlikely event [low altitude, semi-urban area]
that the antenna were struck by lightning, the energy [albeit
significant] would have no reason to propagate up to my station.
Even
though it may elevate my house ground by thousands of volts [with
respect to some other ground point], the station should ride up with
it
- and little current should flow in the coax at the station.

Am I whistling Dixie?


Hopefully you are not really using the water pipe for a ground for your
electrical service. Hopefully your plumbing is just bonded to the
electrical ground. Dont even think about using this for lightning
protection. Nothing like having lightning run in on your plumbing while
taking a bath or have it run in on yor ground and eat about $7K worth
of test equipment(my bad).

Jimmie
Jimmie

DE KB3OPR

I am an electrician by craft. The US National Electric Code Requires
that underground metal water piping on the premise be used as a
grounding electrode for the electrical system. There is no way around

Ahhh...The water pipe must be bonded to the electrical system, but the
main ground must be at the entrance. Here, we have plastic water pipe
all the way to the main from the meter, yet we have to bond the meters
which are metal with plastic running in and plastic running out.

it. No matter how fast people talk you cannot avoid using an
underground metal piping system as a grounding electrode unless the
electrical inspector is incompetent.

It's really easy to avoid here. We do not have metal piping available
for grounding.
Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

That has nothing to do with not using an underground metal water pipe that
is present on the premises.
--
Tom Horne

Sure it does, what happens when a plumber replaces a piece of metal pipe
with plastic and opens your ground. The plumber has no responsibility to see
if the plumbing is being used for ground. Mrtal plumbing should be bonded to
the electrical ground, not be the ground.