Grounding Tips - DX Engineerings Q&A Wednesday - Part 1

[@willhansen6922]

A couple points.... 2:54 its not that its better to connect the shack ground to the house ground, its MANDATORY per NEC... 3:03 There is no difference in "types" of grounds: they are all connections to the earth and should all be done the same way. What most video producers fail to consider is the resistance to ground in a grounding electrode system. All the expensive flat copper strapping is worthless if you don't have a good low resistive ground (2 ohms or less) Spend your money on that first.

[@ReefMimic]

I wouldn’t mind seeing a detailed video dedicated to the enclosure. Mounting resisters, mounting to different sidings,brick,stucco, etc. using metal self taping screws for the plate. Cleaning aluminum plate with kit? Just came across that. using 1 1/2” pvc with threaded adapter has to be filled to fit through hole in back. You can always just shove the pvc through but looks better with a flange / protects wire when pulling through. Making a dedicated video would save a lot time researching

[@Thinks-First]

A recent ARRL meeting discussed not bothering to connect internal grounding bus bar to the earthed copper rod connected to the panel. Just ground separately to the AC ground. One KZbin ham mounted thread/wing nuts on the case of a Belkin multi outlet box and connected all his equipment separately through straps to that.

[@KA4UPW]

Show a video of the ideal grounding set up in that box..

[@pfmcdermott1]

I too would like to see this. An actual box put together and see the connections done and the ground strap connected and run out of the box.

[@radiotowers1159]

Its worth mentioning guys that the grounding methods discussed here are suitable for United States properties but may not be suitable for all countries. Certainly here in the UK because of the different electrical systems or codes as you call it, grounding your antenna coax directly to a ground rod can under certain main supply faults be a danger and cause electrical shock and fire hazard, as the ground rod may be the only fault path in the mains electrical circuit. As KZbin is a Global platform it would be worth mentioning on camera the fact that you are specifically speaking to the North American audience and not the general worldwide ham audience. Bill GM4UBJ

[@radiotowers1159]

@@ReefMimic Hi Reef , you misunderstand the hazard is from your mains electricity supply side not the antenna side( we are not talking about lightning type hazards) In certain rare mains supply electric faults here in the UK the route to ground can pass from the mains through your radio equipment to ground not the other way round. The reason it is a hazard is because the chassis of power supplies, PL259 etc may then have a voltage on them which under this rare fault condition may rise to phase potential (230 v in UK) so you may get an electric shock ,and if the fault CURRENT is high enough the insulation on the coax and wiring may melt due to the heating effect in the wiring. So by putting in a good radio ground you may inadvertently be creating a good electrical ground which is better than the supply utility ground. As I stated this can be a concern with certain electrical systems or codes in various countries. Bill GM4UBJ

[@barryinn1778]

Sorry guy's but this is some of the worst explanations I've ever heard. Why does Rod ask Mark questions and then try to explain himself? Mark 's audio is to low and you need just one person explaining how to do the hook up.

[@jbyronh]

You should suggest that the connectors, PL 259, ground rod clamps and so on, should be crimp-on style and not soldered. Lightning can cause enough current that it melts solder and it becomes liquid and can be expelled out of the fittings.

[@Ron-xn4wf]

My Yaesu FT 2980 does not have a ground connection other than the AC ground connection on the power cord. Would I be required to connect a wire from the radio housing to a bus bar ?

[@ryansanderson7023]

OK. Can I confirm something with you guys? (I am a noobie). I want to put my shack in my basement. So I would run a LMR-400 feed line to the exterior of my house. (Where I have a plastic electrical box with ground in it.) I would then install (and bond to ground) a lightning protector and connect the feed line to it. Then I would take another piece of LMR-400 and run that from the lightning protector to my antenna. Is that correct? Thanks.

[@Utahforrest]

Hey I have the same question you do. Did you get this answered?

[@glendonblount6556]

What is wrong with using 8, or 4 gauge wire to attach to the ground rods?

[@rico1319]

I don’t think anything’s wrong with it but thicker is better

[@VP2EIHonAnguillaIsland]

thanks for sharing some info on grounding. 73

[@AliReza-zx8km]

Nice.............................