"Michael" wrote in message
...
Hiya...

Hiya...

Got the 6' solid brass ground rod and 24' ground strap today from ICE. We
have clear weather forecast here for Saturday, so I plan to pound it into
the ground. I'll mount the balun to the foundation low to the ground and
connect the ground strap. I ordered 100' spool of antenna wire and a 100'
length of coax. If they arrive in the next day, I'll be able to put it up
Saturday along with the balun and ground spike. Then I can test it out
Saturday night. If I don't get the antenna wire and other goodies by the
weekend, it will have to wait another week for completion and testing. I'm
glad I also have the 102' G5RV to test it against. That antenna is
currently laying on my roof in the shape of a sigma. I plan to leave it as
is.

I'd say the 6' brass rod into the earth is a better ground then the brick
chimney, but I don't think it will out perform the whole uncooked chicken.

I'm still not sure if I should also ground the radio in the shack. The
radio is on the second floor in the house, so any ground wire would have to
be about 75' long to reach the spike, unless I just ground it to the iron
radiator... or a chicken. I use a six receiver, six radio MFJ- 1700C switch
to go between antennas and my two radios. The new properly grounded
inverted L will always be hooked up to the switch along with both my radios
and all antennas. Given that one antenna is well grounded and all items are
hooked up to the same switch via shielded PL-259, will the other radios and
antennas benefit from that one single grounded antenna ???

Forgive me for being a total retard here... My first ever antenna was a roll
of aluminum foil and an alligator clip :-) I'm making some progress...

Mike D