I have a ST-2 antenna that im very happy with. Its mounted on a10 foot pole on my upper deck. The roof line on my house is a good 10-foot higher than the antenna, and the whole area is surronded bymuch higher pine trees. Great reception, as im at 6100 ft. elev. Do i need to worry about grounding this antenna? This is the first time ive used a external ant...
Grounding Question?
- Thread starter mtnmadman
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ok thanks hadnt thought about that.....I have a now unused 8to10 foot copper rod that used to ground my sat. antenna. would that be ok?
K
kb0nly
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That should work perfect. Run some solid copper wire from it to the mast holding your antenna. Get some 6awg bare copper from the local home improvement store made just for this purpose.
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as long as it is also tied to your house ground, otherwise it just serves to increase the chance of a strike. the purpose of a grounding system is to tie ALL grounds together to bring everything to the same potential. having multiple ground rods not connected together can be worse than none at all.
talkpair
Member
Keep in mind that mother nature doesn't play by any rules.
I've seen a few cases where the object hit by lightning wasn't what I would have voted "most likely to be struck".......based on the surroundings.
It's usually during a severe lightning storm when you'll be asking yourself "have i done enough?".
This is the wrong time to think about it.
Remember.......If you do not provide a path for lightning......it WILL make it's own......through guttering, steel siding or coax.........whatever path it needs to get to ground(s), it will utilize.
Make a path !
Locate your ground rod directly under the mast and use heavy gauge wire with NO splices, loops or bends.....This is the shortest and most direct route to ground and will take the brunt of the strike.
Lightning doesn't like taking the scenic route.
Connections need to be CLEAN and TIGHT.........finger-tight or "making-contact" aren't going to cut it here.
High resistance connections translate to heat during high current.
Regularly clean and inspect connections.
Additionally, you should BOND this ground rod to your power ground rod.
These are a couple bare minimum tips for the antenna and mast grounding, and don't even begin to cover arestors or coaxial protection.
I've seen a few cases where the object hit by lightning wasn't what I would have voted "most likely to be struck".......based on the surroundings.
It's usually during a severe lightning storm when you'll be asking yourself "have i done enough?".
This is the wrong time to think about it.
Remember.......If you do not provide a path for lightning......it WILL make it's own......through guttering, steel siding or coax.........whatever path it needs to get to ground(s), it will utilize.
Make a path !
Locate your ground rod directly under the mast and use heavy gauge wire with NO splices, loops or bends.....This is the shortest and most direct route to ground and will take the brunt of the strike.
Lightning doesn't like taking the scenic route.
Connections need to be CLEAN and TIGHT.........finger-tight or "making-contact" aren't going to cut it here.
High resistance connections translate to heat during high current.
Regularly clean and inspect connections.
Additionally, you should BOND this ground rod to your power ground rod.
These are a couple bare minimum tips for the antenna and mast grounding, and don't even begin to cover arestors or coaxial protection.
So i only need to run wire from the mast its self? I thought i had to run in from to coax its self?????
Another idea....... Cable co. that i use has everything grounded to to inline water pipe... would this work too? I want to do this right...
ridgescan
Member
Not to jack thread-but does anyone her know how long a run of 6AWG a guy can use before it turns into an antenna for noise?
talkpair
Member
Keeping the strike and high current OUTSIDE of the house is your objective......not to bring it inside.
Water pipes are considered a poor choice because of the possibility that a section of plastic pipe could be installed between the ground connection point and the earth.
While the soldered joints in the cold water plumbing of a house have excellent continuity, they aren't good at carrying high current for long periods.
Most people think of lightning as the only hazard to consider when grounding antennas, towers and masts.
The event is of short duration and the likelihood of a soldered joint melting is probably small.
An event such as a power line wrapped up in an antenna, or a mast falling into a power line are likely to be a long duration event..... Until the power company arrives....In a case like this the soldered joints will be carrying high current for a longer time period and will be stressed.
As for your cable television installation......the ground would be considered unacceptable under todays National Electrical Code.....The likelihood of a fire is probably pretty low because the small gauge drop wire would probably fuse itself open from the high current before the pipe joints melted.....But that's just an optimistic prediction on my part........and still doesn't make the installation right.
The beauty of the National Electrical Code is that you don't have to understand it.....Just follow it.
Their recommendations are mainly to prevent fires and electrical shock and don't really go into much detail about protecting sensitive electronics however.
Perhaps someone else can elaborate on protecting coax and equipment.
As for myself, for absolute protection, I disconnect the radios from power and antennas anytime lightning is in the vicinity.......The tower is grounded using six 8' ground rods with a bare number 6 buried to the power ground rod.
The fiberglass antenna took a direct lightning hit about 10 years ago and was destroyed.......Nothing else was damaged.
Well, I have been doing the same thing when there is a thunderstrom in the area......Im kinda anal about that scared to talk even on the phone!
K
kb0nly
Guest
Yes and no...
This isn't a cut and dry answer. A lot of antennas are DC grounded, so by grounding the mast its mounted to that also grounds the antenna and the feedline. However you should also consider an inline arrestor as well to further protect the connected equipment from any surge on the center conductor as well.
I wouldn't rely on the disconnect during bad weather routine, you can't guarantee you will be there first of all, and second disconnecting stuff in a storm is a bad idea all around because now your in the line of fire.
Ground the mast, and put an inline arrestor in also, keep that close to the ground rod or point at which the coax enters the house. Ground ground ground....
There is so much disinformation when it comes to grounding antenna systems. The electrical code doesn't always cover the best methods, its just what they recommend to protect the power grid and possibly keep the building from burning down, but sacrificing some equipment in the the process also. Now if you look at how they document grounding for actual antenna systems its different rules there also. You will find everyone, even all the pros, have their own opinions on it as well.
Just ground, arrest, and pray. Thats all you can do!
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