I want an antenna, not a lightning rod...?

[Jaybird093]

Hello, I'm new to forums and have newbie antenna question... I want to get a Diamond discone antenna for the roof of my house for my bct-15. But, I have no clue how to mount it to roof and ground it PROPERLY. What are some do's and dont's for this particular antenna? Thank you.

 

[DPD1]

Most antennas are basically the same... You try and have a place for the juice to go into the ground if hitting the mast, and then a way to try and stop it from coming in through the cable. Best thing to do if you don't know how to do it is contact an Electrician... There's different ways to do it, and sometimes home insurance requires you to do it right (to code), incase there was ever a hit and you tried to make a claim. If you didn't do it right, they might give you grief.

 

[jim202]

I am not trying to give you a hard time, but this topic has been covered probably once a month
for the last several years. You might try doing a search on the grounding of antennas before
asking the open question again here on the forum.

Bottom line is follow the guide lines of the NEC (National Electrical Code), ask your home
owners insurance company what their requirements are and go from there. Do a search and
read some of the numerous threads that have been on a number of different sites including
this one.

Jim

Hello, I'm new to forums and have newbie antenna question... I want to get a Diamond discone antenna for the roof of my house for my bct-15. But, I have no clue how to mount it to roof and ground it PROPERLY. What are some do's and dont's for this particular antenna? Thank you.

 

[Jaybird093]

i tried the search, Jim but it only lets me go back to post from May 20th or so and i couldnt find anything posted in the last couple of weeks. thanks anyways.

 

[CSXRiverline]

The antenna mast needs to be grounded to the same ground system that the building's electrical service uses.
Normally, there is at least one ground rod driven into the ground close to the service entrance (where the electric meter is located).
You would run your ground conductor to that point, attaching it to the existing ground conductor, or directly to the ground rod using the appropriate clamp.

In the U.S. you must use #10AWG wire or larger. The lower the number (#8 is larger wire than #10), the larger the wire.
For my new Ringo Ranger installation, I have #4 wire.

The true point of any antenna ground system is to discharge the atmosphere in the area of the antenna, which should actually reduce the chance that the antenna or any part of the house being hit by lightning.

As for the radio itself;
It must also be properly grounded. You should also use a lightning arrester in the coax line between the antenna and the radio.
I am just going to disconnect my radio from the coax when it is not in use, and will never use it during a lightning storm.

One more thing;
There should be an instruction sheet included with your antenna which clearly describes the grounding procedure. Including this sheet and the warning labels is law in the U.S.
But if you either bought a used antenna, or are re-installing one, I wouldn't be surprised that you don't have the instruction sheet.

Hope this helps

FW