OK, I guess I have to do more thinking about this, even though my head is
already totally spinning from the fact that there seems to be blatant
discrepancies between expert opinions out there. I am new to this ng and have
much to learn.

I am not sure who to believe at this point.

The book says "one common ground", AC safety AND RF, all one thing. This seems
to be what is being advised here as well. This seems to be consistent with
building codes. That is the "law", the politically correct physics, and what
one needs to say in print or be liable, etc.

Then I turn around, and experienced hams are telling me the exact opposite, eg.
not to tie the RF ground to the house AC safety ground. To tie the RF ground to
the house safety ground rod means a much longer run and thus the potential
problems of 1/4 wavelength resonance also mentioned here.

By the way, I am using an older Kenwood TS530S (until I get some experience and
decide to invest in a more current rig). Are current rigs now always with three
pronged polarized/grounded plugs? My unit here has a two prong non-polarized ac
plug, just like the old audio tube amps I still use for hi-fi.

This whole "ground" thing and its history is quite mysterious, controversial,
and confusing to say the least.


In 1953 when I was first a novice, I used a bizarre little homemade transmitter
with one 117N7 tube which only plugged into one side of the house current!!!!
and then used an earth ground and antenna. I am, in retrospect, amazed I am
here and alive to tell the story.

Where is Tesla when we need him......



Just curious, if I were to take a light bulb and connect ONE terminal to the
hot side of an ac house outlet and then connect the other terminal to a ground
rod driven into the ground in the middle of a forest somewhere where trees fall
without anyone there to hear them, will the light bulb light up?

bill (feeling a bit ungrounded at the moment.....)


Jack Painter wrote:

"zeno" wrote in message ...
Walking around using an old RatShack portable short wave radio I was able
to track down an unusual noise source (an incessant clicking that was all
over 40-160m. I was able to aim the portable antenna at various wires
while walking around. This particular noise turned out to be someone's
bad telephone. When the telephone was disconnected, this loud
click-click-click disappeared. Seems like that bad telephone was somehow
"transmitting" this noise back through the phone lines.

Admittedly the noise from the power lines here are much more difficult to
pin down and seems to change with the weather. It can be very annoying
and discouraging. There is a high voltage transformer right here next to
the house, which means those hv lines are coming right down my driveway.
Designing an antenna which is not even close to parallel to these power
lines has helped somewhat. I am hoping the new 160m full wave loop which
will be further away is going to be a big improvement. I am just hoping
that the ladder line feed to this loop will not also pick up the noise.
If so I will have to change that feedline to coax which will be a
compromise.

Impoving my RF ground and making sure it was totally independent from the
A.C. safety ground at the house main has helped also. My primary RF
ground cable goes through a hole in the floor at the station and
immediately to a copper pipe driven in under the house. This first run is
shorter than 6'. This first copper pipe is then tied to several others at
about 10' apart to make up for the fact that they are only driven 5' into
the ground. Make sure your RF ground is independent of the house AC
safety ground. I also use a constant voltage transformer and a good power
conditioner because the AC here is a mess.

-bill

Hi Bill,

Isolating RF ground from AC ground may be a solution in your individual
circumstance, but it is not recommended or safe under normal conditions.
Single Point Common Ground means what it says and nothing is "isolated".
That begs for problems not the least of which is ground loops.

I do exactly the same thing under my shack WRT multiple RF ground rods as
you have and a very short drop to them as well - that elminates the chance
for 1/4 wave multiples in the ground sytem to raise the impedance
drastically. But according to best available practices and electrical code
everything (antenna ground rods, RF ground rods, and service-mains ground
rod) are all tied together. Understand that this in no way contributes in
any way to "noise" in the receivers, and it can reduce noise significantly.
It also helps minimize lightning damage, at least according to all the
codes, writings, and many experts in this group.

73's

Jack
Virginia Beach