Grounding

[Bigstuff95]

I'm wondering about Grounding?, you can use a grounding strap or a copper grounding strap, or just regular neg. side power wire, can regular power wire work or do I have to get a grounding strap to ground my Cb.? or to ground both my mobel Cb. and my Base Cb.?, does it have to be a grounding strap in order to properly ground your Cb.? is a grounding strap for the antenna only? I know they use them on grounding body's to the frame on trucks as I've Sean one on my pick-up bed, I understand that its all about the grounding on Cb's, grounding both the Cb. and antenna, I'm just not sure about the grounding straps? as I've never used one before?

 

[WA0CBW]

A ground strap is nothing more than something that connects to the device to be grounded to the ground. The NEC (National Electrical Code) section 820 requires your antenna "mast" to be grounded to a ground rod. It also requires that ground rod to be connected to your house main ground rod. It requires the shield of the coax be grounded and an appropriate coax surge protector installed. There are many sources of grounding information available. Remember nothing will prevent you from from a direct or near-by lightning event.

 

[laidback]

I posted before.

 

[prcguy]

Most of the things you hear from CBrs about grounding is a myth or just bad info. I've heard them claim an "antenna" splattered all over the place and when they grounded it with some insane size wire it fixed the problem. Yea, right. For a base station antenna its always good to ground it to code (NEC article 810) and I think the post above this one has a link to that info. Doing that will have zero effect on performance or noise or anything else and its done for human safety.

Bonding vehicle parts like a hood, truck bed or exhaust system with a CB or HF radio can improve performance, reduce radiated ignition noise and fix other problems but its a case by case thing. Using a wide conductive strap for bonding is better for RF and provides a lower impedance path compared to a small diameter wire. Most mobile CB installations don't need any body parts bonded. Its recommended to wire your radio directly to the battery including the ground wire to avoid a voltage drop but your radio will probably work just fine using a cigarette lighter plug.

I'm wondering about Grounding?, you can use a grounding strap or a copper grounding strap, or just regular neg. side power wire, can regular power wire work or do I have to get a grounding strap to ground my Cb.? or to ground both my mobel Cb. and my Base Cb.?, does it have to be a grounding strap in order to properly ground your Cb.? is a grounding strap for the antenna only? I know they use them on grounding body's to the frame on trucks as I've Sean one on my pick-up bed, I understand that its all about the grounding on Cb's, grounding both the Cb. and antenna, I'm just not sure about the grounding straps? as I've never used one before?