Antenna Earth Grounding Ques?

[Shortwavewave]

I have a new High Quality Loop,well I call it a high quality because of the fancy connecters i bought, and you can't pull the wire off it with a truck :lol: and this will be the first time I will have grounded a loop.

I have a coax ground block about 13ft from the loop itself and my antenna is 15ft high.

My question well number 1. is, does a coax ground spliter/block really work? and
number 2 will a 3ft ground rod ,made up of ¿steel copper cald¿ work well(what I mean by work well, is get the ground effect?)

¿ I call it steel copper cald I dont know if its the real name for it its steel on the outside and copper in the middle 3ft long and 1/2in wide ¿

Thank you to all those who help me.

 

[jim202]

First of all, where did you find a 3 ft ground rod? Normal length is 8 or 10 ft.

Second, grounding is mandated by the National Electrical Code and most wiring
inspectors follow their guide. Most home owners insurance companies have a
clause in their paperwork regarding antennas. In general, they also require
that an antenna be grounded.

With that said, most grounding "SYSTEMS" are made up of multiple ground rods.
Don't just drive in several rods next to each other. That does nothing except
cost you money. The purpose of multiple ground rods is to be able to obtain the
lowest ground resistance possible. Each ground rod has a cone of influence
around it. This cone extends outward about half it's length out from the center.
If you place another ground rod within the cone, you will not get the maximum
grounding. The cones will overlap and the effectiveness will be reduced. So the
guide is to space the ground rods out to at least twice their length.

All connections should be made with an exothermic weld. As most people don't
have access to the required molds and powder shot they use, the next best thing
to use for the connection is a bronze clamp. The use of plated solid number 2
copper wire is the general conductor used to make the connections between the
tower, mast or grounding point.

Hope this gives you some clues as to the normal way of grounding is done.

By the way, been building cell sites for over 20 years now, with little or no
damage done to the sites from lightning strikes.

Jim

I have a new High Quality Loop,well I call it a high quality because of the fancy connecters i bought, and you can't pull the wire off it with a truck :lol: and this will be the first time I will have grounded a loop.

I have a coax ground block about 13ft from the loop itself and my antenna is 15ft high.

My question well number 1. is, does a coax ground spliter/block really work? and
number 2 will a 3ft ground rod ,made up of ¿steel copper cald¿ work well(what I mean by work well, is get the ground effect?)

¿ I call it steel copper cald I dont know if its the real name for it its steel on the outside and copper in the middle 3ft long and 1/2in wide ¿

Thank you to all those who help me.

 

[key2_altfire]

I have to agree with everything jim202 said. I think he was thinking of grounding the antenna in terms of lightning safety. In urban California (where I live - not much lightning) all the antenna setups I've seen were grounded simply to bring the antenna's potential to the same potential as the house electrical system. This is the bare minimum requirement for grounding an outdoor antenna. One ground rod and a bond to the AC service entrance is adequate for this.

The general rules of thumb are to bond the antenna and power grounds, and make sure that the grounds meet at one point.

The more serious lightning safety ground systems will surround the structure with 8-10' ground rods, each one will be bonded with an exothermic weld or clamp; NOT solder due to low melting temp, and sometimes the soil will be tilled with several pounds of epsom salts per square foot to enhance soil conductivity.

Polyphaser's web site has quite a bit of information on this, and even a whitepaper on proper grounding methods for home radio shacks. You might have to read it about 10 times to take it all in though… it's a lot of info.

 

[Shortwavewave]

I guess I just dont understand grounding, I know it had to be grounded for lightning, but I though it also has to be grounded for it to get resonant and for transmitting for it to work right? I thought the ground also carrys the signal??

Ive read and read about ground Its just one of those things that doesnt click with me, id have to have someone tell me in person or see things done out there...