Diana Satyr wrote:
For those few of us whose radio happens to be located just a few feet from the
main ground rod for the house, why don't we ground our radios by just pluging a
bit of thick wire into the grounding hole of a standard 3-wire AC sockek?
Looks like the house ground would be a decent RF ground when the run is just
about 5 feet from the socket in question to the ground rod.

Anyone know any drawbacks to this?

Anyone know what guage of wire would fit snugly into that hole?
(It's not #10. I tried that. I don't have any thicker wire to try.)

Moonman
1/01/07
--
Eponymous coverage

Buy a replacement male 3 prong plug from a hardware store.
Be damn certain to connect to the ground pin.

I have a 3 prong with a 5 way binding post connected to the ground pin.
When settting up a temporary listening post, it has sometimes been
usefull. The problem is that outlet that is only "5' " from the breaker
panel
may run many times that distance before it reaches the outlet. The
shortest
route is seldom the one used by electricians.

I also carry a large, 3" jaws, alligator clip to test the "cold water
pipes".
Again this sometimes is workable.

For most applications, and for all permanent setups, a dedicated #8
solid ground
wire should be used to attach to the electric service ground rod.

Never ever attach to a gas pipe!

Terry

If there is any plastic pipe at all between your home plumbing and the
water meter,connecting a ground to a cold water pipe in your home will
not work.
cuhulin