Tdenfuny, a great question.
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How you ground your equipment depends on what you want the ground to do, You are correct- if it is RF alone that you are looking for in a "ground," the countepoise of a dipole's element or the matrix beneath a vertical will provide that "ground'-- ie: the RF return. For an example; all you have to do is look at a 440 handheld- the 'ground' is capacitvely coupled from your body to the unit's chassis.
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The "ground" you have in question, that terminal on the back of the radio and its power supply is there for another reason. I provides a direct ground return in the event the radio chassis goes high with respect to the AC power line. Any number of things can cause that, but it provides a direct ground thru that 'green wire'- instead of you- into the earth. Just like a hair dryer (sexist
,) that short'd circuit to the chassis will blow a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI)- hopefully (you have one, No?
) instead of electrocuting you-- should your body complete the ground circuit. Remember, your AC service has a ground return connect'd already (its the white wire, the 'common')- you do not want to be the substitute part of it !..... That chassis terminal also provides a dump for any static charges that accumulate on the equipment- but do not mistake it for anything lightning related-- if a lightning spike has made it that far into your equipment, everything is now toast.
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This is my favorite guide to grounding:
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http://lightningsafety.com/nlsi_lhm/IEEE_Guide.pdf
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Historically, the concept of a 'hot' chassis goes back to the AC/DC AM radios of the 1950's(?)-- before my time. They actually had such things. These radios had two wire power plugs- the 'common' was directly connected to the chassis. Should anything open that return, the whole radio went "hot"-- this was in the days before the 'green wire' ground... and many were electrocuted.
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While I am on a roll with Grounds, let me throw in a unique example.... the high power tube amplifier (transmitters too) with Pi-Net tuning outputs. Those familiar with these circuits know there is a high voltage capacitor between the amplifier tube(s) and the Pi-Net. It rare but sometimes that DC blocking capacitor fails- placing the full HV potential onto the antenna.... touch the antenna and..........Zap!
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This happened to me once-- an apparent system failure- an HF antenna array failing to load.............. But nothing obvious show'd.
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Hmmmmm--- First things first,
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" Lets see what the SWR is on the antenna..."
so the amplifier was shut down and the antenna was being disconnected when ...."BAM !" ...........a Flash of Blue Light!
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Even though the power was off, the residual voltage (++ thousand!) on the tube plates, had now shorted out directly to the antenna thru that failed capacitor-- it fortunately arc over to the chassis when the cable connector was being remove-- and not thru the Tech standing beside me.... leaving the two of us quite speechless.
How many of you out there have such amplifiers?... (we don't any longer!) Today I make sure that each new (tube) amp has an RF choke between the output coax and the chassis- providing a direct DC ground in case of such a short-out.... Pi-Net or no....
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Just thought I mention that.
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Tdenfuny, I'd highly advise you to look at that IEEE booklet.... it will answer your questions better than anything many of us can direct you towards.
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.....................................CF