Ed_G wrote:

Let me rephrase my situation.

New house near completion. My shack will be at the far corner from
the power service entrance.

I was thinking of just putting a couple ground rods ( bonded together
) just outside my ham shack and letting them be my equipment chassis
ground, probably through a #6 wire from shack to ground rods. My intent
was primarily for DC safety, plus a little 'static' dissipation.

As pointed out by one of you guys, I should meet NEC code, which
would mandate my bonding this separate ground I would install with the
house service entrance ground. My problem with that is that it would
require a run of cable from the ground rods at least 100 feet to get
down and around the house to the service entrance. This is not really
practical nor desirable on my part.

While I understand the potential for ground loops, I deem it a
rather small likelyhood in relation to the static dissipation benefit
I'd get with the closer separate ground I could install. Others here
seem to disagree with me, so I closed my previous post with the comment
that perhaps I'd be better off forgetting my shack ground and just let
the equipment be grounded through the individual power cords to the
outlet ground.

Now that I may have cleared my situation up, what do you guys
think?


Ed K7AAT

PS: Richard, just missing a view of the Pacific... about a half of a
mile away ... and I may reconsider a vertical antenna instead of the
dipole I was going to use.

I still recommend just using the outlet ground.

I don't think you'd accomplish anything by adding the ground rods you
mention, and it might even cause a hazard as some others have said. It
certainly won't be any better than your household wiring system ground
for safety or static discharge. What I would do is make sure all your
equipment is grounded through the household wiring safety (outlet)
ground. Its purpose is electrical safety, and that's what it's designed,
installed, and inspected for. Ungrounded equipment can be connected to
grounded equipment or to the mains safety ground -- if it has a power
cord, replace the cord with a 3-wire cord and connect the safety ground
to the chassis and cabinet.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL