Planning on grounding my three rooftop antennas this weekend. Every time I settle on the 'correct way' I find more experts swearing it's wrong.
Now I read on ICE's pages NOT to bond to the house neutral or service ground.
See:
http://www.iceradioproducts.com/31.html
http://www.iceradioproducts.com/32.htm
I tend to believe a company who specializes in lightning protection products but also trust the electricians.
Or am I confusing "electrical service box connections" and "AC service neutrals" as something else? I am not an electrician.
My plan is to install a system similar to Ron's (but with far less skill and using ICE products) with a breakout box by the house before the coax enters the crawl space. All attached via short heavy copper lead down to a couple of 8' ground rods under the box.
I want to ground the outer braid only but am unclear if this means a strike or nearby strike will then just enter on the center conductor. Some articles swear it will, some swear it won't.
Is bonding to the house electrical ground (which I can't find anyway in my 1958 house) only to protect the equipment from transients/surges on the AC outlets? If so I'm fine unplugging it all before a storm or after use which i do anyway.
If electricity just wants to get to ground on the most efficient path possible - which I believe it does - how can anything improve on grounding the outer shield (expect maybe Ron's way of grounding both inner and outer) straight to an 8-foot invitation into earth?