How to ground under these circumstances

[Big_Ears]

Here's a excerpt of the NEC Article # 250.70 Methods of Grounding and Bonding Conductor Connection to Electrodes.

" The grounding or bonding conductor shall be connected to the grounding electrode by exothermic welding, listed lugs, listed pressure connectors, listed clamps, or other listed means. Connections depending on solder shall not be used. Ground clamps shall be listed for the materials of the grounding electrode and the grounding electrode conductor and where used on pipe, rod, or other buried electrodes, shall also be listed for direct burial or concrete encasement. Not more than one conductor shall be connected to the grounding electrode by a single clamp or fitting unless the the clamp or fitting is listed for multiple conductors."

This means that you must use a UL listed clamp that's designed for grounding purposes and needs to be listed for the same material type for the pipe and ground wiring type that you are using. Usually this translates to using a UL (listed for USA, or CSA for Canada or an LR rating for Europe) listed clamp that is listed & designed for connecting a copper ground rod to a copper grounding wire. The electrical guys at Home Depot can help if you give them the right information on the material types of the ground rod, existing cold water piping and wiring that you are using. Also if you happen to posses any aluminium wiring and intend to use it...Please Don't... unless the clamp is designed for aluminium wiring and is marked with the AL/CU stamping.

 

[04Z1V6]

Stealth, ask for a cold water pipe ground clamp Home Depot most of the time has an electrician in the store.

 

[kb0nly]

Depending on what part of the country your in its pretty common for you to have a ground wire from the breaker panel's ground bus bar to the cold water pipe and thats it. My house has a ground wire from the breaker panel bus to the cold water pipe nearby, its clamped to it above and below the water meter, that way there is a connection on the ground side of the pipe where i comes up out of the basement slab, and on the other side of the shutoff and meter so the rest of the plumbing in the house is grounded for sure as well.

Now this is the way almost every house is around here unless they have been upgraded. Chances are your house just doesn't have a ground rod outside and a connection to the meter box because at that time it wasn't required. National code and regional/local code requirements don't always agree, and sometimes you get an electrician working off the old way of doing things, it all happens. As for inspectors, around here the inspectors are also old and a bit out of date, so they miss stuff all the time.

Years ago they put the electrical service, cable tv, and phone, underground to my house. The cable company put a 8ft copper ground rod in next to the house and one of those inline ground blocks for the cable tv. And then about a year ago we upgraded our house to a 200amp service. They put in a new meter box, new breaker panel, new wire from the meter to panel, etc.. They saw the ground from the old 100amp panel going to the water pipe and added a second ground that was a stranded conductor about 4awg in size and put the pipe clamp type grounding connectors on the water pipe before and after the meter and called it good. Inspector looked it over and called it good. All was well in their eyes.

I went one step further, i ran another ground wire from the two ground clamps up and out the nearby basement window where the cabletv enters and bonded it to the ground rod for the cable tv. Both of my towers are grounded via an 8ft rod, and for now thats how its going to be. i would like to do more, but its time and money at this point.

For you i would run a ground wire down with your coax since your going on the roof, and then if you don't have an outside ground rod put one in, connect the wire from the antenna support and then run a second wire from that ground rod into the house and connect it to the ground from your panel.

In that picture it looks like the ground wire is just wrapped around the water pipe though, no clamp bonding it?

 

[04Z1V6]

Depending on what part of the country your in its pretty common for you to have a ground wire from the breaker panel's ground bus bar to the cold water pipe and thats it. My house has a ground wire from the breaker panel bus to the cold water pipe nearby, its clamped to it above and below the water meter, that way there is a connection on the ground side of the pipe where i comes up out of the basement slab, and on the other side of the shutoff and meter so the rest of the plumbing in the house is grounded for sure as well.

Now this is the way almost every house is around here unless they have been upgraded. Chances are your house just doesn't have a ground rod outside and a connection to the meter box because at that time it wasn't required. National code and regional/local code requirements don't always agree, and sometimes you get an electrician working off the old way of doing things, it all happens. As for inspectors, around here the inspectors are also old and a bit out of date, so they miss stuff all the time.

Years ago they put the electrical service, cable tv, and phone, underground to my house. The cable company put a 8ft copper ground rod in next to the house and one of those inline ground blocks for the cable tv. And then about a year ago we upgraded our house to a 200amp service. They put in a new meter box, new breaker panel, new wire from the meter to panel, etc.. They saw the ground from the old 100amp panel going to the water pipe and added a second ground that was a stranded conductor about 4awg in size and put the pipe clamp type grounding connectors on the water pipe before and after the meter and called it good. Inspector looked it over and called it good. All was well in their eyes.

I went one step further, i ran another ground wire from the two ground clamps up and out the nearby basement window where the cabletv enters and bonded it to the ground rod for the cable tv. Both of my towers are grounded via an 8ft rod, and for now thats how its going to be. i would like to do more, but its time and money at this point.

For you i would run a ground wire down with your coax since your going on the roof, and then if you don't have an outside ground rod put one in, connect the wire from the antenna support and then run a second wire from that ground rod into the house and connect it to the ground from your panel.

In that picture it looks like the ground wire is just wrapped around the water pipe though, no clamp bonding it?

Great Post.

 

[stealth71]

Depending on what part of the country your in its pretty common for you to have a ground wire from the breaker panel's ground bus bar to the cold water pipe and thats it. My house has a ground wire from the breaker panel bus to the cold water pipe nearby, its clamped to it above and below the water meter, that way there is a connection on the ground side of the pipe where i comes up out of the basement slab, and on the other side of the shutoff and meter so the rest of the plumbing in the house is grounded for sure as well.

Now this is the way almost every house is around here unless they have been upgraded. Chances are your house just doesn't have a ground rod outside and a connection to the meter box because at that time it wasn't required. National code and regional/local code requirements don't always agree, and sometimes you get an electrician working off the old way of doing things, it all happens. As for inspectors, around here the inspectors are also old and a bit out of date, so they miss stuff all the time.

Years ago they put the electrical service, cable tv, and phone, underground to my house. The cable company put a 8ft copper ground rod in next to the house and one of those inline ground blocks for the cable tv. And then about a year ago we upgraded our house to a 200amp service. They put in a new meter box, new breaker panel, new wire from the meter to panel, etc.. They saw the ground from the old 100amp panel going to the water pipe and added a second ground that was a stranded conductor about 4awg in size and put the pipe clamp type grounding connectors on the water pipe before and after the meter and called it good. Inspector looked it over and called it good. All was well in their eyes.

I went one step further, i ran another ground wire from the two ground clamps up and out the nearby basement window where the cabletv enters and bonded it to the ground rod for the cable tv. Both of my towers are grounded via an 8ft rod, and for now thats how its going to be. i would like to do more, but its time and money at this point.

For you i would run a ground wire down with your coax since your going on the roof, and then if you don't have an outside ground rod put one in, connect the wire from the antenna support and then run a second wire from that ground rod into the house and connect it to the ground from your panel.

In that picture it looks like the ground wire is just wrapped around the water pipe though, no clamp bonding it?

I think you got the picture very well here. I did some digging and just cannot find a ground rod anywhere along the foundation, so I think the only ground the electrical panel has is to that cold water pipe. As for the existing ground wire, you asked if it was just wrapped around the pipe. It is wrapped a few times, but it does finally terminate to a strap which is attached to the pipe itself. I would like to replace that strap with an actual clamp, however I need to find the correct one. I have a galvanized water pipe and copper cable, so I would guess I need a clamp that is for use with these metals so as to avoid any corrosion or electrolysis issues.

I appreciate your response. It sounds like your house and mine were grounded the same way. I guess they did things a little differently back in the day. I'm still a little unclear what, if anything, I should do about the cable TV wires though. I would think they should have a grounding block before going into the house. I suppose I could call them and ask them what the deal is there.

 

[stealth71]

Stealth, ask for a cold water pipe ground clamp Home Depot most of the time has an electrician in the store.

I went there today after you suggested that, but they have about a dozen clamps, and he seemed a little unsure of which one would work. I might try Lowes tomorrow and see what they have, otherwise I'll go to the electrical store our company works with. Steve there knows everything.

 

[oneirish]

I spoke with several actual RF engineers working at Mount Lukens and Mount Wilson here in CA and they unanimously emphasized using at least an 8' grounding rod and several went on about making sure it is 'good conductive soil' etc.
They advised me to get a quality coax grounding kit and ground the outer braid to the rod at the entry point to the house (outside) to the grounding rod. Much easier said than done.
All rolled their eyes when I asked about grounding to my cold water pipe, even at the entry point and said 'don't even waste your time.'
They said the water pipe actually becomes another low-frequency radiator in many cases and does not serve as a reliable ground during an electrical strike (gave different explanations for this which I can't recall now) and usually every satellite\CATV installer has/will badly grounded to it, plus the possibility of there being a water pump between the ground connection and the actual ground - obviously not applicable if grounding to the pipe where it enters from the ground, but many ground to it farther down the line.

I never was able to figure out where/how to bond to the house electrical (1958 house) and went with the 8 foot copper ground rod and a Times Microwave coax ground/sealer kit. They told me to use heavy braided grounding strap no more than a foot long from the rod to the coax.

Then they told me you really now just have something to point at and show your insurance company as proof you made the safest possible connection, after lightning hits the mast and does whatever it wants anyway. Ha ha. Nice guys.

 

[ocelot]

Hello all,

Well, it's been a long time since I had my discone up. But I'm thinking of putting up a new antenna and having incurred about $800 worth of fried electronics from not having my last antenna grounded and taking a direct lightning strike, I've been searching the forum here for grounding info.

So, just to add my situation - house was built in '54, so pretty much nothing in it is grounded. When I upgraded my electrical system, they clamped a ground wire to the main water line at the point of entry into the house. The wire then ran to two ground rods equally spaced, then into the breaker box.

So, I guess I'll ground my antenna to a rod at the base of the mast, and then bond that to the main water line as well. Does that sound right for starters?

Sorry stealth, don't mean to hijack your post. Have you found out any further information in your case?

 

[stealth71]

Hello all,

Well, it's been a long time since I had my discone up. But I'm thinking of putting up a new antenna and having incurred about $800 worth of fried electronics from not having my last antenna grounded and taking a direct lightning strike, I've been searching the forum here for grounding info.

So, just to add my situation - house was built in '54, so pretty much nothing in it is grounded. When I upgraded my electrical system, they clamped a ground wire to the main water line at the point of entry into the house. The wire then ran to two ground rods equally spaced, then into the breaker box.

So, I guess I'll ground my antenna to a rod at the base of the mast, and then bond that to the main water line as well. Does that sound right for starters?

Sorry stealth, don't mean to hijack your post. Have you found out any further information in your case?

No man, not a hijack at all. I think its relevant to this discussion.

 

[kb0nly]

Just got back here to follow up, thanks for the comments on my previous post, i try to help wherever possible!

On your question of the correct type of ground clamp to use on the water pipe, just get one that is labeled as a pipe/rod clamp that takes 1/2"-1" pipe, etc. They look like two metal "V" shaped pieces held together with two screws, and the one of them has a screw on it with a hole to insert the wire. You also mentioned metal types. Most of them are Brass or Copper, i have seen galvanized ones as well. I prefer the Brass type clamps. Unfortunately in your case you have the old galvanized pipe for your water main instead of copper, the best you can do is go with a good quality Brass or Copper pipe clamp. Consider this your secondary ground anyway and install a ground rod outside below your service entrance and run a wire inside, and if your not comfortable doing it get help, and fasten this inside your breaker panel into the ground/neutral bus. And of course a ground wire from that rod to your antenna on the roof. If its too much work fishing the ground wire up the wall, your one picture shows all the wiring hanging down from the floor, then get a splice terminal from Lowe's made for this. It's basically a block with heavy duty screw terminals, then you can combine your new ground and the existing one where it hangs down below the floor.

You mentioned the cable tv, i'm surprised they didn't ground it, but by the looks of the box you have the new type demarc box. If yours is not locked by the security nut, you can buy a tool for this from most home improvement centers, open it up and you will find everything you need. The demarc box has connections for an earth ground inside, chances are since there wasn't a ground rod available outside they just skipped it, bad practice but it happens all the time when an installer is in a hurry and not authorized to do more than screw the box to the house and connect cables.

You might also want to consider an arrestor in your coax from the antenna on the roof. I don't remember how many antennas you mentioned installing, but you need one for each run of feedline. If your installing just a simple scanner antenna get a cable tv grounding block from the local home improvement store and use that to provide at least some level of protection. And even better is a gas arc arrestor or one of many other products made for this. You can see examples of how my coax is grounded on my website, go to the Tower #1 page for that, Tower #2 is still under construction and the grounding isn't done yet.

And last but not least, the post that mentioned a direct strike... Well, no matter how well you protect everything, arrestors, grounding, etc... A direct strike is another beast. The best you can hope for there is to keep the lighting out of the building. I have had two of my arrestors pop on Tower #1 from a nearby strike. Nothing was damaged, i just went out and replaced them after the storm passed and i was back on the air. You might also consider just having a point where you can disconnect everything where the cables enter the house. If the weather gets bad enough i just reach under my desk and disconnect all the cables in a few seconds. You can see that on the Shack page on my website.

And then just have good insurance and hope for the best!!

 

[blueangel-eric]

is it true that grounding to water pipes right before it goes into the ground is better then a ground rod? I was told from an electrician that grounding that way is better then a ground rod.

 

[kb0nly]

I spoke with several actual RF engineers working at Mount Lukens and Mount Wilson here in CA and they unanimously emphasized using at least an 8' grounding rod and several went on about making sure it is 'good conductive soil' etc.
They advised me to get a quality coax grounding kit and ground the outer braid to the rod at the entry point to the house (outside) to the grounding rod. Much easier said than done.
All rolled their eyes when I asked about grounding to my cold water pipe, even at the entry point and said 'don't even waste your time.'
They said the water pipe actually becomes another low-frequency radiator in many cases and does not serve as a reliable ground during an electrical strike (gave different explanations for this which I can't recall now) and usually every satellite\CATV installer has/will badly grounded to it, plus the possibility of there being a water pump between the ground connection and the actual ground - obviously not applicable if grounding to the pipe where it enters from the ground, but many ground to it farther down the line.

I never was able to figure out where/how to bond to the house electrical (1958 house) and went with the 8 foot copper ground rod and a Times Microwave coax ground/sealer kit. They told me to use heavy braided grounding strap no more than a foot long from the rod to the coax.

Then they told me you really now just have something to point at and show your insurance company as proof you made the safest possible connection, after lightning hits the mast and does whatever it wants anyway. Ha ha. Nice guys.

Yep, they deal with this stuff on a regular basis, but they loose equipment to strikes too, nobody is immune. The water pipe is not a good RF Ground, it can be a good Electrical Ground, thats what they are getting at there. I have seen the cable grounding kits installed on hardline, nice, i wish it was affordable to do that with all types of coax, but the next best thing is to use an arrestor inline that does ground the shield to your ground system. For scanners i just recommend a simple cabletv/satellite ground block. One guy i know here in town lost a couple scanners to a nearby strike. I helped him install an 8ft ground rod and a two cable satellite ground block to ground the shield of both feedlines where it enters the house. Eventually he plans on putting inline arrestors in place once he has more money to work with, at least its a start.

I have seen mistakes at commercial sites too, regular inspections is the key once it is installed.

Ever seen a spark plug arrestor for short wave receive antenna's? Don't laugh, it works!

 

[kb0nly]

is it true that grounding to water pipes right before it goes into the ground is better then a ground rod? I was told from an electrician that grounding that way is better then a ground rod.

Well.. Maybe!

It depends on a few things. First of all the soil conditions, but that affects a ground rod as well. The reason why it was the most common way used is because back in the day all the cold water lines were either galvanized pipe or copper pipe later on. The problem now is that you don't know what your water line transitions to after it gets beyond your property, or sometimes even how far the copper pipe extends beyond your basement slab.

One example i can quote, a friend of mine did a basement remodel and they broke up the slab to upgrade the water line, it was undersized for the house, they found that a few feet beyond the entry point the city had run flexible tubing from the street to the house when the city did an upgrade of their systems and found copper cost prohibitive. With mine i know there is about 150ft of copper from the basement entry point to the street side shutoff. But from there it goes under the street to the new flexible line that was put in when they rebuilt the city side of the system. 150ft of copper pipe should beat an 8ft rod any day in my opinion, at least for me here since its also burried below the frost line in these climates.

Thats another thing, where you live, if your in the warmer southern states your water line won't be burried as deep either!

Look at this way, the more metal you can ground to thats burried in the ground the better, so it doesn't hurt to add some rods as connection points, and just bond to the water line also for a bit more.

 

[stealth71]

Just got back here to follow up, thanks for the comments on my previous post, i try to help wherever possible!

On your question of the correct type of ground clamp to use on the water pipe, just get one that is labeled as a pipe/rod clamp that takes 1/2"-1" pipe, etc. They look like two metal "V" shaped pieces held together with two screws, and the one of them has a screw on it with a hole to insert the wire. You also mentioned metal types. Most of them are Brass or Copper, i have seen galvanized ones as well. I prefer the Brass type clamps. Unfortunately in your case you have the old galvanized pipe for your water main instead of copper, the best you can do is go with a good quality Brass or Copper pipe clamp. Consider this your secondary ground anyway and install a ground rod outside below your service entrance and run a wire inside, and if your not comfortable doing it get help, and fasten this inside your breaker panel into the ground/neutral bus. And of course a ground wire from that rod to your antenna on the roof. If its too much work fishing the ground wire up the wall, your one picture shows all the wiring hanging down from the floor, then get a splice terminal from Lowe's made for this. It's basically a block with heavy duty screw terminals, then you can combine your new ground and the existing one where it hangs down below the floor.

You mentioned the cable tv, i'm surprised they didn't ground it, but by the looks of the box you have the new type demarc box. If yours is not locked by the security nut, you can buy a tool for this from most home improvement centers, open it up and you will find everything you need. The demarc box has connections for an earth ground inside, chances are since there wasn't a ground rod available outside they just skipped it, bad practice but it happens all the time when an installer is in a hurry and not authorized to do more than screw the box to the house and connect cables.

You might also want to consider an arrestor in your coax from the antenna on the roof. I don't remember how many antennas you mentioned installing, but you need one for each run of feedline. If your installing just a simple scanner antenna get a cable tv grounding block from the local home improvement store and use that to provide at least some level of protection. And even better is a gas arc arrestor or one of many other products made for this. You can see examples of how my coax is grounded on my website, go to the Tower #1 page for that, Tower #2 is still under construction and the grounding isn't done yet.

And last but not least, the post that mentioned a direct strike... Well, no matter how well you protect everything, arrestors, grounding, etc... A direct strike is another beast. The best you can hope for there is to keep the lighting out of the building. I have had two of my arrestors pop on Tower #1 from a nearby strike. Nothing was damaged, i just went out and replaced them after the storm passed and i was back on the air. You might also consider just having a point where you can disconnect everything where the cables enter the house. If the weather gets bad enough i just reach under my desk and disconnect all the cables in a few seconds. You can see that on the Shack page on my website.

And then just have good insurance and hope for the best!!

Absolutely fantastic post, thankyou very much. I appreciate the assistance on the ground clamp. I did go to Homers this weekend and spent 5 minutes staring at clamps, but left without buying one because I didn't know which of the 6 they had in stock I should buy, however I was leaning towards a brass one that said 1/2 to 1", so it looks like I was on the right track. I'll stop out there this week and get one. Now, you did mention something that I had not considered, and that was getting a splice terminal. Would I need to cut the existing ground wire to hook it all together? The reason I ask is because I thought I read somewhere that a power ground should be a continuous run, without any splices. I could have read that wrong. However if I could tap onto that ground and run a new heavy gauge cable to a new ground rod outside, that would be perfect, and relatively easy considering the existing ground is located right next to the foundation wall where I plan to install the new rod/s. Assuming that all works, then I guess I could call the cable TV man and ask them to come back and ground that system.

Next point,right now I am planning on having either two or three vertical antennas on the roof, all with separate LMR-400 feed lines, so I would definitely be installing lightning arrestors for each one. I looked at your web page. Fantastic job, and that's very similar to what I have planned as well as far as the cables all running into a weatherproof enclosure with the arrestors located inside the box. I've been looking at Polyphaser or ICE arrestors, but I'm open to other suggestions as well.

 

[ocelot]

No man, not a hijack at all. I think its relevant to this discussion.

Thanks, stealth. I'll piggyback onto your post a bit then

I'm running a very simple setup - a 20' mast to one radio via 9914F.

Is a water pipe that is not the main line into the house but still connected to the main water line considered a ground? Would clamping onto that line from a ground rod be considered bonding? I can run a ground wire to the closest faucet head after it comes down from the mast to the ground rod. The faucet ties into the main line, which is linked to the breaker box via ground wire and two ground rods. I know this is a bit simplistic, but if it works . . .

stealth, are you planing on shield grounding your coax as well?

 

[stealth71]

Thanks, stealth. I'll piggyback onto your post a bit then

I'm running a very simple setup - a 20' mast to one radio via 9914F.

Is a water pipe that is not the main line into the house but still connected to the main water line considered a ground? Would clamping onto that line from a ground rod be considered bonding? I can run a ground wire to the closest faucet head after it comes down from the mast to the ground rod. The faucet ties into the main line, which is linked to the breaker box via ground wire and two ground rods. I know this is a bit simplistic, but if it works . . .

stealth, are you planing on shield grounding your coax as well?

I know there are people more knowledgeable that me, so I hope they chime in, but I think when it comes to grounding to a water pipe, the code (from what I've heard, I haven't read it yet) says that if you decide to use a water pipe as a ground, then that ground wire must be attached to within 5 feet of where the main water pipe enters the house, and before any shutoff valves. I think what they want is to ensure that there is as little resistance as possible in the ground system. If you attach the ground too far away, then any valves, hidden plastic fittings, joints, corrosion, teflon pipe wrap, pipe sealant, etc., could potentially cause the ground to lose its effectiveness a little bit, if not altogether. So they say, "well, if you can attach that ground right where the cold water pipe enters the house, then you'll be protected more effectively".

I am probably going to do shield grounding on the coax as well. I think its just good additional protection, plus it would just look cool when you open the enclosure up, you know?

 

[tonsoffun]

I am probably going to do shield grounding on the coax as well. I think its just good additional protection, plus it would just look cool when you open the enclosure up, you know?

You can check out the article I wrote up in the wiki, I shield grounded my coax in two places. One was right under the mast where the coax comes out then again at the bulkhead in the weather proof box. Additional protection from the ICE protectors after that.

Here is the link:
http://wiki.radioreference.com/inde...ead_with_supressors_for_your_scanning_station
Take care
Ron

 

[ocelot]

I know there are people more knowledgeable that me, so I hope they chime in, but I think when it comes to grounding to a water pipe, the code (from what I've heard, I haven't read it yet) says that if you decide to use a water pipe as a ground, then that ground wire must be attached to within 5 feet of where the main water pipe enters the house, and before any shutoff valves. I think what they want is to ensure that there is as little resistance as possible in the ground system. If you attach the ground too far away, then any valves, hidden plastic fittings, joints, corrosion, teflon pipe wrap, pipe sealant, etc., could potentially cause the ground to lose its effectiveness a little bit, if not altogether. So they say, "well, if you can attach that ground right where the cold water pipe enters the house, then you'll be protected more effectively".

I am probably going to do shield grounding on the coax as well. I think its just good additional protection, plus it would just look cool when you open the enclosure up, you know?

Yeah, I don't think I'm going to get the whole system grounded properly, and I'm debating on how much to do. All told, the ground system is going to cost more than the antenna, mast and coax. I'm not as much worried about losing my ancient Pro-2006 as I am the dangers of having the energy from a lightning strike coming into the house via the coax. I was lucky last time - the antenna wasn't grounded and I had just unplugged the coax from the back of the radio not 30 seconds before the hit (which makes me wonder if unplugging the coax was a causal factor in the strike )

Thanks for the info - what you say makes sense as far as grounding to the point nearest entry into the house. That is what the electrical company did, so I'll follow that as well. As far as the shield grounding goes - from what little I've read, it seems if you don't set up the entire ground system, and get it all bonded together, lightning will find the spot you missed and wreak havoc from that point. I guess the next question is: is some grounding better than no grounding? Probably for smaller strikes and stray current surges, etc. Crikey - it was so much simpler when I was ignorant and just put up the antenna, and plugged the line into the back of the radio :lol:

 

[stealth71]

You can check out the article I wrote up in the wiki, I shield grounded my coax in two places. One was right under the mast where the coax comes out then again at the bulkhead in the weather proof box. Additional protection from the ICE protectors after that.

Here is the link:
http://wiki.radioreference.com/inde...ead_with_supressors_for_your_scanning_station
Take care
Ron

Ron, that was simply one of the coolest articles. I actually read it a few weeks ago and took notes, no joke, LOL!! You did a darn professional job, and thats where I got a lot of ideas about how I want to run all my coax, etc. So I'll take this opportunity to say thanks for doing such a nice write up. Nice looking antenna as well.

 

[oneirish]

I've opted to add Full Replacement Cost for electronics to my home insurance and added a shiny new file cabinet (fire-resistant naturally) in which to keep all of my equipment receipts. I should just put the radios in there too come to think of it...

So far this tactic has prevented it from even raining where I live in Southern California for about a year and many kids under the age of twelve just look confused and go blank when you say "lightning". Huge fiery bolts of killer electricity falling out of the sky? they sneer. Yeah right, old man.

Just be sure to stand under the tallest tree you can find, I remind them. Or run slowly out in the open to the nearest empty field in a repeating zig-zag pattern. Lightning cannot hit you if you zig and then zag.