John Miller wrote:

tommyknocker wrote:
Heh. The 20' lead in coax cable for my SW antenna-the cable I'd used
in a pinch when I moved in-was too long for the space it needed to
cover, and it was picking up spurious signals (electronic noise and
such).

Moving coax around should have no effect at all. How is your system
grounded?

Insulated, stranded copper wire hooked to a small pole stuck in the
earth.

tommyknocker wrote:
John Miller wrote:

Moving coax around should have no effect at all. How is your system
grounded?

Insulated, stranded copper wire hooked to a small pole stuck in the
earth.

You have a multimeter? While your rig is all connected up, measure the
voltage, both DC and AC, between the shield of the coax and the ground
"hole" of one of your wall sockets. Please note that I am *not* suggesting
that your house electrical ground is a good RF ground (although it could
possibly be better than a small pole in the ground). But if there's
significant difference in electrical potential, it's a good indication that
your radio grounding system needs work or re-thinking.

Maybe someone can post a link to a site with good grounding info.

--
John Miller
Email address: domain, n4vu.com; username, jsm

In Tulsa, Oklahoma, it is against the law to open a soda bottle without the
supervision of a licensed engineer.

But if there's
significant difference in electrical potential, it's a good indication that
your radio grounding system needs work or re-thinking.

Maybe someone can post a link to a site with good grounding info.

I know you're right there John, I'm not txing yet so everything in my shack is
just receiving so I didn't think it'd make that big a deal.

But I spent about a whole day in just concentrating on each piece and properly
grounding everything and it was the best 'accesorie' ;-) I ever bought. The
difference in the noise floor, which was low to begin with because of my
location, dropped noticably......to the point that I think I actually posted a
thread in here trying to convince people, that if their receivers weren't
*properly* grounded to get out there and ground them. You won't be sorry,
heck with the lightening thing (even though it's a biggie), just in your dxing
experience.