Joaquin Tall wrote:
Hi James,

There are several good articles at the www.eham site on this very subject.
If you can read between the lines of some of the muck slinging, you can come
up with several really good solutions.

Just click on the "view more articles" link [at the top of the horizontal
green separator] HTH.

Alain



"James Barrett" wrote in message
...
Hi, I did some searches on google for grounding, but all the
information I have found talks about grounding antennas and such
against lightning strikes. But the grounding I am interested in
researching is the type of ground I would use on my HF radio, power
supply, and antenna tuner. I haven't grounded anything yet, but I
would like to. I seem to have a hazy recollection of reading somewhere
that I should use copper braid and connect it to the house ground.
But during my search I found this image (which basically sums up the
article it came from ) http://www.qsl.net/n5nj/kuby/image16.gif

Does it really matter if my equipment is ground to the house ground or
should it really be connected to its own external ground? And if/when
I ground to guard against lightning strikes, would I use that same
external ground or go with yet another external ground?

I'm still doing my research, but figured it couldn't hurt to ask.

There are two grounds for your radio system. There is an RF ground, and
there is a power ground. They aren't the same, and even the term
"ground" is a little nebulous. But it is convention.

Dealing with the Power ground, you'll want to tie the grounds on the
back of your radios/tuners/amplifiers together. There are a number of
ways to do this. Some folks construct a copper ground plane that has
wires running to it from the equipment needing grounded.

Another possibility is wiring to the grounding bars such as are used for
electrical service. This is the method I use.

Whatever method used, short wires are better working practice.

I'll just go over my own setup as beyond the grounding bar, you'll get a
lot of opinions on what is right. I run heavy gauge wire out to a 8 foot
copper pipe embedded about 7.5 feet into the ground, and have ground
clamps to attach it. Braid is good too.

Some other thoughts:

I install the pipe hydrostatically - I sweat a garden hose adapter onto
the copper pipe, attach a hose to it, and let 'er rip (hopefully no
disclaimers needed here) The water digs a hole for the pipe, which then
sinks into it. It's fun

some folks ground to a water pipe. Not a good idea, as modern plumbing
does not always have continuity - there might be a piece of PVC in the
line somewhere.

I have my Arrester going to that pipe also. I'm using a "spark gap" type
arrester, but I would really recommend one of the gas discharge types.
They are quick to respond, and better protection in general.

Hope this helps.

- 73 de Mike N3LI -