Dewey
Member
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2002
- Messages
- 1,024
I've used a wonderful "Sputnik" (RS 20-176) on my roof for many years. Mid last year when having the roof re-shingled, I replaced the Sputnik with a Diamond D130J. I must admit that I was a little disappointed to find that the D130J was only marginally better than the Sputnik. And that performance opinion is based on a Sputnik that only had two of its three ground plane radials. BUT, that is another conversation for another day.
Anyway, I'm thinking about placing another Sputnik in my A-Framed attic for use during thunderstorms. In the past when we would get thunderstorms, I would switch to my RS double coiled magnetic mobile scanner antenna in the room with the scanners (2nd and highest floor). Of course an attic mounted Sputnik should provide better coverage since I would have elevation and ground plane on my side (I don't have a sufficient metal surface for a ground plane in the room with the mobile antenna). My question is... since the attic mounted Sputnik would NOT be the highest point on the house since it's inside, would it still need to be grounded since I would be using it during thunderstorms? If so, I need to figure out how I would go about performing that task. Right now, the only thing I can think of is to ground it to the upstairs furnace unit since it is also in the attic. Of course if grounding in an attic is not as important, I wouldn't have to worry about it.
Thanks,
Dewey
Anyway, I'm thinking about placing another Sputnik in my A-Framed attic for use during thunderstorms. In the past when we would get thunderstorms, I would switch to my RS double coiled magnetic mobile scanner antenna in the room with the scanners (2nd and highest floor). Of course an attic mounted Sputnik should provide better coverage since I would have elevation and ground plane on my side (I don't have a sufficient metal surface for a ground plane in the room with the mobile antenna). My question is... since the attic mounted Sputnik would NOT be the highest point on the house since it's inside, would it still need to be grounded since I would be using it during thunderstorms? If so, I need to figure out how I would go about performing that task. Right now, the only thing I can think of is to ground it to the upstairs furnace unit since it is also in the attic. Of course if grounding in an attic is not as important, I wouldn't have to worry about it.
Thanks,
Dewey