"Bill Turner" wrote in message
...

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:

On Sat, 31 Dec 2005 10:16:19 -0500, jawod wrote:

Several articles referred to long grounding lines being close to 1/4
wavelength as being a problem. Is this eliminated with balanced
feedline?

Thanks,

john


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No. You can not "ground" your station for RF, at least not in the
sense of running a wire to ground. Don't bother because it isn't
necessary anyway. You do need two kinds of ground, one for the AC
mains for safety, and one for lightning.

RF energy is expensive to generate. Don't waste it by running part of
it into a lossy "ground". Keep it up in the air where it belongs.
Baluns are your friend.

73, Bill W6WRT

Bill,

I like your answer but it leaves me to want a bit more. Would you mind
expanding on your 2 paragraphs? Thanks.

west
AF4GC

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:

On Sun, 01 Jan 2006 20:10:08 GMT, "west"
wrote:


"Bill Turner" wrote in message
.. .

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:

On Sat, 31 Dec 2005 10:16:19 -0500, jawod wrote:

Several articles referred to long grounding lines being close to 1/4
wavelength as being a problem. Is this eliminated with balanced
feedline?

Thanks,

john


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No. You can not "ground" your station for RF, at least not in the
sense of running a wire to ground. Don't bother because it isn't
necessary anyway. You do need two kinds of ground, one for the AC
mains for safety, and one for lightning.

RF energy is expensive to generate. Don't waste it by running part of
it into a lossy "ground". Keep it up in the air where it belongs.
Baluns are your friend.

73, Bill W6WRT

Bill,

I like your answer but it leaves me to want a bit more. Would you mind
expanding on your 2 paragraphs? Thanks.

west
AF4GC



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OK.

1. Running a wire from your rig to ground will not do what you think
it will. Any wire is a significant portion of a wavelength at HF and
may be many wavelengths at VHF and UHF. On ten meters, for example,
eight feet is almost exactly 1/4 wavelegth. If you recall your basic
transmission line theory, whatever condition is present at one end of
a 1/4 wave line has just the opposite at the other end. If you really
do have a good ground connection at the grounded end of the wire, the
other is an open circuit. Not very effective for grounding, is it?

The effect becomes less as you lower the frequency, but never
completely disappears. It is possible to tune out this effect with a
suitable coil and capacitor combination, but it really isn't needed
anyway. MFJ makes a "ground tuner" or whatever they call it, and I
suppose it does work, but think about this: If getting a good RF
ground actually improves your signal, you have a SERIOUS problem in
your antenna. More on this in the next paragraph.

2. RF does no good flowing through the earth. None at all. Dirt is a
poor conductor at any ham frequency and you should do your best to
keep your RF out of it. I suspect the idea that "ground" helps your
signal came from the very early days of radio when frequencies were
very low and wavelenghts were very long... miles long in fact. At
those frequencies there are two factors which might make use of ground
desireable: The earth is much more conductive at very low frequencies,
and miles of wire for an antenna is not easily done. Under those
circumstances, working a long wire against ground might actually be a
good idea. None of that applies to ham frequencies, of course. At ham
frequencies, RF works best when it's up in the air, all of it. Not in
the ground, not in your shack, up in the air.

Keep that in mind and you can't go wrong.

73, Bill W6WRT

"Bill Turner" wrote in message
...

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:

On Sun, 01 Jan 2006 20:10:08 GMT, "west"
wrote:


"Bill Turner" wrote in message
.. .

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:

On Sat, 31 Dec 2005 10:16:19 -0500, jawod wrote:

Several articles referred to long grounding lines being close to 1/4
wavelength as being a problem. Is this eliminated with balanced
feedline?

Thanks,

john


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No. You can not "ground" your station for RF, at least not in the
sense of running a wire to ground. Don't bother because it isn't
necessary anyway. You do need two kinds of ground, one for the AC
mains for safety, and one for lightning.

RF energy is expensive to generate. Don't waste it by running part of
it into a lossy "ground". Keep it up in the air where it belongs.
Baluns are your friend.

73, Bill W6WRT

Bill,

I like your answer but it leaves me to want a bit more. Would you mind
expanding on your 2 paragraphs? Thanks.

west
AF4GC



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OK.

1. Running a wire from your rig to ground will not do what you think
it will. Any wire is a significant portion of a wavelength at HF and
may be many wavelengths at VHF and UHF. On ten meters, for example,
eight feet is almost exactly 1/4 wavelegth. If you recall your basic
transmission line theory, whatever condition is present at one end of
a 1/4 wave line has just the opposite at the other end. If you really
do have a good ground connection at the grounded end of the wire, the
other is an open circuit. Not very effective for grounding, is it?

The effect becomes less as you lower the frequency, but never
completely disappears. It is possible to tune out this effect with a
suitable coil and capacitor combination, but it really isn't needed
anyway. MFJ makes a "ground tuner" or whatever they call it, and I
suppose it does work, but think about this: If getting a good RF
ground actually improves your signal, you have a SERIOUS problem in
your antenna. More on this in the next paragraph.

2. RF does no good flowing through the earth. None at all. Dirt is a
poor conductor at any ham frequency and you should do your best to
keep your RF out of it. I suspect the idea that "ground" helps your
signal came from the very early days of radio when frequencies were
very low and wavelenghts were very long... miles long in fact. At
those frequencies there are two factors which might make use of ground
desireable: The earth is much more conductive at very low frequencies,
and miles of wire for an antenna is not easily done. Under those
circumstances, working a long wire against ground might actually be a
good idea. None of that applies to ham frequencies, of course. At ham
frequencies, RF works best when it's up in the air, all of it. Not in
the ground, not in your shack, up in the air.

Keep that in mind and you can't go wrong.

73, Bill W6WRT

That makes a lot of sense, Bill. It takes talent to take a rather technical
concept and put it into an easy to understand explanation. This post is
going in my Ham archive. Thanks again.

Cordially,
west
AF4GC