On Mon, 04 May 2009 13:14:04 +0200, noname wrote:

Now, where (if any) should I add grounding to that setup? I was going
to add a lightning arrester to the coax just before it enters the
house (fed into two ground rods), but will forego that since none seem
overly thrilled about the idea.

Hi Stewart,

A very good description of your set-up. You are already grounded
through a the haphazard path of your AC outlet - if you chose to use
three prong connections, if your outlet is in fact grounded, if your
equipment actually has a safety ground to chassis. A lot of "ifs,"
hence my use of "haphazard."

By deliberately adding a ground wire going to an ad-hoc ground rod,
you can easily introduce problems. The worst of which could be
lethal, but that extreme is unlikely (except it might only be resolved
at the coroner's inquest).

Consult code for grounding requirements.

The minor problems include ground loops that can plague your listening
and/or your contacts asking what that strange music is in the
background of your transmission. The loops can burn out wiring in
your rig (actually, more like traces on cards). The oddities that
arise from ad-hoc grounding scroll out on a list of complaints that
many come here to find solution for.

By the way, a Yeasu technician once recommended salting ground rods to
resolve a poor grounding situation at the time, so I've been doing
that ever since (can't hurt), especially during the dry summer months.
Adding water is pretty obvious, so didn't think I needed to spell that
out, Dave.

That sounds like a fantasy. If this thread doesn't grow suitably to
fill in the vacuum of information, you can do a search in google
groups, for this group, using the key word GROUND and CODE.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC