On Wed, 20 Aug 2003 11:29:25 -0600, "Ken Bessler"
wrote:


In other words, don't rely on the sheild to provide a ground path but
use a flat braid that is not part of an active transmission line?

Hi Ken,

Yes and no.

It has been offered, and your experience confirms, that there is RF on
the coax (as well as RF "in" the coax). The solution is to inhibit
that, not try to short it to ground. You can try, certainly, and
succeed - for one band. Instead you should fix the problem by
snubbing the current at the source. Use a choke.

The second part of using coax to ground components. If you have a
wiring problem (you have one if you cannot trust your AC mains to
supply ground) that lifts one chassis level to 115VAC and that is
cured by a coax connection to another chassis safely at ground; then
guess what happens when you hold that grounded chassis and disconnect
the other's path to that ground? 115VAC through two arms and across
the chest when you twist off the connection. That would not happen if
they shared the same safety ground through proper connections.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC