I'm will setting up my shack soon but the question of grounding has come up.
I'll be driving a 8' copper rod into the ground and running wire to a
grounding bulkhead for the equipment to tie in. The problem is that my shack
will be on the second floor. I know that you would have to keep the ground
run as short as possible. Could I use a use a larger guage wire for the
ground run? If so, what guage should I use? I plan to use originally #10
guage.

Thank you,

Dave

You should be fine.
These are good reading though:
http://www.anarc.org/naswa/badx/antennas/grounding.html
http://www.k1ttt.net/technote/techref.html#ground
http://www.k2bj.com/Ground.htm
--
73 Brian
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A lot of radios and 100' of rusty wire!
Brian's Radio Universe
http://webpages.charter.net/brianehill/

DJB wrote:

I'm will setting up my shack soon but the question of grounding has come up.
I'll be driving a 8' copper rod into the ground and running wire to a
grounding bulkhead for the equipment to tie in. The problem is that my shack
will be on the second floor. I know that you would have to keep the ground
run as short as possible. Could I use a use a larger guage wire for the
ground run? If so, what guage should I use? I plan to use originally #10
guage.

Thank you,

Dave

There isn't' any practical size wire that would provide a good RF ground
to the second floor. However any decent size wire like #10 will give you
an acceptable safety ground. I once considered installing some copper
sheet metal on the side of the house to the second floor for an RF
ground, but even that large a conductor wouldn't have enough surface
area to work well.


-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

DJB wrote:

I'm will setting up my shack soon but the question of grounding has come up.
I'll be driving a 8' copper rod into the ground and running wire to a
grounding bulkhead for the equipment to tie in. The problem is that my shack
will be on the second floor. I know that you would have to keep the ground
run as short as possible. Could I use a use a larger guage wire for the
ground run? If so, what guage should I use? I plan to use originally #10
guage.

Thank you,

Dave






I have used #10 very successfully here. Your 8 foot rod may be enough
depending on local moisture levels. My local Hydro company advised a 10
foot rod so it would be 9 feet in the ground due to our fluxuating water
levels. The rod is not copper but is very good and easy to pound into
our heavy soil.

There is an article on grounding at the AMANDX site below. It may be of use

--
73 and Best of DX
Shawn Axelrod

Visit the AMANDX DX site with info for the new or experienced listener:

http://www.angelfire.com/mb/amandx/index.html

REMEMBER ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN HEAR FOREVER

DJB wrote:

I'm will setting up my shack soon but the question of grounding has come up.
I'll be driving a 8' copper rod into the ground and running wire to a
grounding bulkhead for the equipment to tie in. The problem is that my shack
will be on the second floor. I know that you would have to keep the ground
run as short as possible. Could I use a use a larger guage wire for the
ground run? If so, what guage should I use? I plan to use originally #10
guage.

It may be hard finding a copper ground rod and then it may be too soft
to drive all the way in without it bending. Normal electrical ground
rods are just galvanized steel, about 5/8 or 3/4 inch in diameter and
about nine or ten feet long.

If the ground is fairly soft, a sledge hammer will drive it in. Careful
with the ladder when you first start beating the thing down and try not
to put it through any utility stuff buried in the ground.

A brass ground clamp may be used at the exposed end of the rod. Some
have a serated washer and bolt asssembly. Clean the wire well and apply
a coating of anti oxidant paste (or vaseline) over ALL the contact areas
and the threads of the clamp then assemble and tighten. The vaseline or
anti oxidant will keep humidity/rain from corroding the joint.

DJB wrote:

I'm will setting up my shack soon but the question of grounding has come up.
I'll be driving a 8' copper rod into the ground and running wire to a
grounding bulkhead for the equipment to tie in. The problem is that my shack
will be on the second floor. I know that you would have to keep the ground
run as short as possible. Could I use a use a larger guage wire for the
ground run? If so, what guage should I use? I plan to use originally #10
guage.

Thank you,

Dave

#10 gauge wire is extremely heavy. I would think, even from the
second floor, that it should be plenty heavy enough.

Tony

"DJB" wrote in message
...
I'm will setting up my shack soon but the question of grounding has come
up.
I'll be driving a 8' copper rod into the ground and running wire to a
grounding bulkhead for the equipment to tie in. The problem is that my
shack
will be on the second floor. I know that you would have to keep the ground
run as short as possible. Could I use a use a larger guage wire for the
ground run? If so, what guage should I use? I plan to use originally #10
guage.

Thank you,

Dave


There are 2 issues here- a good lightning ground and a good RF ground. You
are probably fine for lighning, but RF is a different story. Consider an 18'
long ground wire - that's a 1/4 wave long at 13 MHz and will be virtually
invisible- i.e. no difference with it connected/disconnected from an RF
view.

Dale W4OP

There are 2 issues here- a good lightning ground and a good RF ground. You
are probably fine for lightning, but RF is a different story. Consider an 18'
long ground wire - that's a 1/4 wave long at 13 MHz and will be virtually
invisible- i.e. no difference with it connected/disconnected from an RF view.


Correct. The "fix" is to run as many wires as possible to as many ground rods
as possible. Keep the wires separated as much as possible, to minimize the
mutual inductance. The result is a reduction in affective length, i.e.,
reduction in the inductance by a factor that is the number of wires.

Using the given example, four wires would reduce the effective length to 1/16
wavelength at 13 MHz, or 1/4 at 52 MHz. Inductances in parallel act as do
resistors in parallel.

Get the desired number of ground rods (disperse them around your abode) and a
big roll of #16 insulated wire (I prefer white) -- and start "pulling." G You
might still run that #10 for aid against lightning, although the best you could
probably due is to dissipate static build up. Nothing will help should there be
a direct hit.

Oh, and make the runs as direct as possible to their respective ground rods.

73,
Bill, K5BY

Ground anything you do to the house ground as well.

Experiment: drive in two temporary ground rods (can be short ones) a short
distance apart, set your voltmeter on AC, and measure the voltage between
them. Most of the time you'll come up with a quarter volt or so, just from
stray AC power ground differences. If lighting hits somewhere nearby, it's
thousands of volts. So you want one ground system, not two. Otherwise
all the current that goes with the voltage difference comes inside your house
on its way to wherever it's going, by way of your radios.

MFJ has a virtual ground box, that produces an RF ground at the end of a
long wire, but you have to tune it for each frequency. I don't know that
it matters if you're not transmitting.
--
Ron Hardin


On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

DJB wrote:
I'm will setting up my shack soon but the question of grounding has come up.
I'll be driving a 8' copper rod into the ground and running wire to a
grounding bulkhead for the equipment to tie in. The problem is that my shack
will be on the second floor. I know that you would have to keep the ground
run as short as possible. Could I use a use a larger guage wire for the
ground run? If so, what guage should I use? I plan to use originally #10
guage.

I think the electrical code calls for #8 copper wire. Also be sure to use
the proper connector to attach your wire to the rod. The rod should be
driven slightly below grade. For lightning protection, you should avoid
sharp bends in the ground wire.

For RF grounding in the shack, nothing beats flattened, braided wire
(e.g., remove the braid from some RG-8 coax).

See: http://thewireman.com/products.html#grounding

Art N2AH