Dave wrote:
Michael wrote:

Hiya...

Been a while since I posted here. For the sake of noise suppression
as affective lightning protection is almost hopeless without gas
tubes, what would be the minimum gauge wire that you could use for a
ground from the radio to a ground spike and from a matching
transformer to a ground spike ??? Yes, I know there is loads of info
on the net, but I would like some active opinions as some recent
discussions I have had on this has been conflicting.

Also... I've gotten conflicting opinions on this one too. If you have
a long wire or beverage set up on a matching transformer like the ICE
180, there is a ground receptacle on the matching transformer. Would
you:

A. Use a separate ground wire from the matching transformer to the
ground spike and another separate ground wire from the receiver to the
ground spike ???

or

B. Use one single ground wire from the receiver's ground port going
up to the matching transformer and then to the ground spike ???


I know this stuff is antenna-101, but I'm interested to see what the
opinions here are

Thanx in advance !!!

Mike D.
Northern NJ


Try both ways. I have my MLB grounded to the support mast via the outer
conductor of the RG58, about a foot from the near end of the random
wire. The mast itself is grounded.

If your balun and coax is up in the air, you don't have an effective RF
ground to prevent common mode noise on the coax shield. That's why the
balun needs to be close to the ground so you can use a short ground wire
between the coax shield and the ground rod. This is how you achieve an
effective RF ground on the coax shield. It also provides a vertical
section of the antenna coming down from the horizontal wire. This is
required for a true inverted-L antenna. The vertical section (wire)
sometimes picks up a better signal than the horizontal wire of the
antenna so it's best to have both sections in use. Having the balun near
the ground allows for this configuration.