Ham Shack Grounding
Vložit
- čas přidán 24. 09. 2022
- #hamshackgrounding #earthing #grounding #k4srfhamradio
Here is how I ground, or "Earth" my Ham Shack equipment. This is only a suggestion as to one way to accomplish this important setup for any Ham Shack. - Jak na to + styl
Grounding your Shack is more important than you think. Please share your thoughts about this topic by leaving a comment below.
Make a better loop on your grounding connection.
looks ok so far. yes 2nd 8Ft UL ground rod is a great idea. yes 8 ft apart. should use #4 stranded bare wire between rods and up to your ground bar. ground current is on the surface of the wire. stranded wire is more area . also use ^ 6 or larger copper stranded wire out side you home and go to electric service ground rod and all ground rods be bonded together ! out side your home. when a surge happens it will be kelp outside and the same potential . If you have ground rod resistance meter the NEC is 25 ohms max for house ground, now RCA puts antenna ground at 10 ohm MAX . this will very to your type of ground. bond all ground rods together and out side burry the bare wire use UL approved ground clamps. they are the acorn type sold at Lowes home depot ETC. The clamp you have on your rod is for cold water pipe or gas pipe. a UL ground rod clamp makes a better connection as has lower resistance. When buying UL 8Ft ground rod ask for the UL ground rod clamp. you can look this up online so you know what to look for. it will be all copper or brass and have UL stamped right on it. If need more than 1 wire under the clamp use more clamps. on the same rod. the outher thing to have is surge protection for the AC power. as of 2020 the NEC requires a whole home surge protector in each breaker panel . and can be put in on older homes . just need a blank spot in breaker panel . then get a good surge protector strip and put it right at where you plug in. look for a good one that is UL listed . looking good so far. the ac ground on your home is for shock protection . I gone as far as GFCI outlets in my radio room (MAN CAVE) ham shack ETC. 73's
This is a rare and very good video because you are showing the actual connections. Most videos only talk about theory.
adding this to my list.
Can you please show the grounding of your antennae?
I thought I had done that, but maybe I hadn't. I'll put that on my "to-do" list for videos and may be able to get to it this week.
From what I understand about the grounding rod, it needs to be bonded to the grounding rod of the house so there’s no difference in resistance. That is the general consensus anyway.
It is bonded to the house ground.
All good... NFPA/NEC requires that station ground also be bonded to mains ground. NEC 810.
The white coaxial cable should also have a lightning/static discharge suppressor on it.
You need to bond that ground rod to your electrical system. Ground rod spacing is most effective at 2x rod length. The weakest link in your system is where the #8CU terminates on your ground bar. Grounding wont reduce the noise you were talking about, but filtering will.
It actually is bonded to the house ground. I am actually in the process to revisit the grounding and upload a new video on this in the near future.
To get the Maximum benefit from driven rod electrodes they need to be driven the sum of their lengths apart. 8 foot rods are driven 16 feet apart, 10 foot rods are driven 20 feet apart, 1 10 foot rod and one 8 foot rod would be driven at least 18 feet apart, and so on.
Tom Horne
I don't have space to do that. Not everyone is lucky enough to have a lot of open space, so I do what I can do.
Today this popped up in my feed, so I watched. I did not see your single point ground and bonding to the service panel ground. I did see mention of antenna ground as well in the comments and that too should be incorporated into your grounding package. I understand that every QTH has different grounding needs and the ways to get it done vary but it is extremely important to get it right. I wound up buying 315ft 6g bare copper and an 5 additional 8ft ground rods to bond my shack, antenna, and service panel ground. Also where feedline comes from antenna is a Times Microwave Mid-span Coaxial Grounding Kit.
I plan on recording an update.
I love love love black beauty Cord Geip Busings for Weather proof electrical box connectors they can be ordered in various sizes for electrical box entry and provide chaffing protection. On your bond wire I would recommend a Chair lug or TA lug it provides a better mechanical connection to your ground Buss. And to meet current codes at least on the National Electrical Side bonding your shack grounds (technically Bonding) but those need to be attached (in an approved means) to your electrical System bonding. But any effort is good effort for safety and noise. 😊😊😊😊
Great shirt!
About 5 years ago lightning struck a large tree near my home. I had an elevated vertical with elevated radial wires, one of which was tied to the tree. The radial wire was vaporized and the surge current came into my shack on the braid of the coax feedline, looking for a ground. My transceiver was all hooked up and plugged in, with the feedline connected through a three position coax switch. The switch was in the center "grounded" position, but the surge current to ground was so large it destroyed the switch and damaged my transceiver. Now at all times, except when operating, my feedlines are completely disconnected (in the shack), the AC utility power & ground is disconnected from all equipment by way of a large, manually operated contactor, and the equipment ground bus is open from the outside ground rod by a huge copper knife switch. The equipment is connected to nothing. K4ATX
Good idea and I should do the same. I just ordered some Alpha Delta switches that can disconnect all coax feed lines. I may start to unplug my main power supply unit as well from the AC.
Thanks for the information
No worries
Thank you for the good explanations and the great pictures that help immensely. So I see how the interior equipment is grounded. Is the lightening arrestor and coax connected to the same box? In the event of strike or near strike wouldn't that bring that charge into the house. Some pictures of the antenna system and the grounding of the antenna would be of help. So many videos explain what they do without showing the actual connections and parts used which leaves myself confused I'm sorry to say. Also a parts list of be of great help. Thanks again for the explanations and visuals.
I will work on the antenna grounding idea. Thanks.
As an electrician, your grounding looked really really good..... until you got to the #8 termination point in the exterior box. I would take that wire from under that bolt head then drill and bolt a ground lug on that bar. Good job!
Thanks for the excellent suggestion.
@@K4SRF I just got my HAM license. KW1APZ There is so much to learn lol
@@FM-Patriot And you never stop learning.
Very helpful. Where did you get your outside box? What is it listed/called on Amazon, so I can look up there or at an electric supply store? Thanks so much! Ben, N4UTX.
Thanks. I don't remember where I purchased it; it was online. Took forever to get here and in my opinion, costs too much for what i got.
What are these antenna connector grounding devices called (or actual model numbers) at 5:10 ?
NEC is the Bible on electrical grounding, and "grounding" outside of NEC guidelines can be dangerous. If your equipment has issues with electrical shock, then you need to make sure your equipment is functioning properly and that your shack electrical wiring is up to code. Your ground rod is actually not up to code and a violation. You're actually inviting lighting into your shack.
Truth. This guy is funny.
You should put some grommets on the KO's on the outside box
Actually, I did, about an hour after I recorded this and found them. I ordered them a few months ago about the time I was moving and lost them in the move, then forgot about them. 🙃
Start first 8' ground rod go six feet install 2nd 8' ground rod.
Do you ground to the house ground via the third prong?
The house ground is achieved via the copper ground wire outside being attached. It was a rather long run, about 200'.
USE SAME METAL HADWARE SO YOU DON'T HAVE DISSIMILAR METAL CORROSION. ALSO MAKE A BETTER LOOP ON YOUR CONNECTIONFOR GROUNDING. U.S.NAVY ET1(SW) ret.
After losing a radio shack years ago due to a lightning strike of a tree in the back yard and the lightning traveling through the ground and up through my ground rod I will never again install a ground on my radios. They are grounded through the electrical outlet and the NEC manual specifically shows that those types of items are not to be grounded. Because mine was grounded against National Electric Code requirements, the insurance was able to get out of paying for the damage. Grounding ham radio equipment in your shack is a myth left over from the late 19th century when electronics were different than they are today, and house wiring was different than it is today, and the myth just wont die.
Truth. This guy is funny.
Grounding for lightning strikes is useless. If you get a close hit, the voltage/current will roar up the ground to your gear. I was the project engineer for the installation of outside plant and switch at Mt Cook, bought into service Dec 1969. The latest type of lightening protection was used. A severe electrical storm in April 1970 completely destroyed all plant, completely destroying the specially earthed switch. $250,000 gear gone!!!
All good comments. However, I'm 65 and have never had lighting strike any of my houses.
Please watch this grounding presentation from the ARRL and you will see everything that is wrong with your station ground. czcams.com/video/VvE570NPmmI/video.html I must confess that my station was like yours until the Dayton grounding presentation. A rude awakening for me. I find most hams are doing it wrong. Also you should use bushings where the coax enters the external surge protection box. The 8 GA wire should not be connected under the mounting bolt, it should be on a separate bolt through the copper bar. It should not go through the same knock out hole as the coax on the left., it should have it's own hole.The copper bar in the shack is a "bonding bar", not a ground bar and should not be connected to the ground rod outside the shack. 73 N2SQ
Watched it and plan on making some changes. I'll put out an "updated" grounding video later. Thanks for the input George! -Steve / '73 K4SRF
All ground straps should be also solder to each connection to
Grounding Connections should not be soldered because a lightning discharge through the system would vaporize the solder and send bits of molten metal everywhere in the area of the connection. That molten metal will be hot enough to ignite ordinary combustibles on contact.
The United States Army Corps Of Engineers, Navy Systems Command, Air Force, and NASA do not except soldered connections because it is too difficult to get consistent quality connections by soldering even when it is done by the same technician. What is universally required now is a specified crimp connection, made using a specified crimping tool, connected to the terminal by specified hardware and tightened to a specified torque.
@@hornetd we are talking minimal solder just a small amount to have a derect connection, i am not talk about a massive blob of solder lol. Trust me if u had a derect lightning strike, you won't be worrying about a bit of solder lol.
@@radioaustralia5070 I worked for ~30 years installing remote communications equipment shelters in quite a few different places. I installed a lot of shelters containing critical communications equipment. I supervised the construction and placement of over a hundred such shelters in Argentina alone when Telefónica Argentina built the country's first cellular phone system. I never once had any of those installations fail during the warranty period which is when we were sure to hear about it. Those installations always tattled on themselves when they were struck by lightning. Since those shelters had steel shells, were mounted on ridge tops, had solar arrays that covered 192 square feet of steel framing at each shelter they were struck directly quite often. Telefónica Argentina did loose some antennas to direct lightning strikes but they didn't loose any of our shelters to them. I actually do know a bit about grounding radio equipment.
Tom Horne
Unfortunately it is a myth to think that connecting a station ground to a ground rod outside the shack is a good idea. If lightning didn't exist, MAYBE. But lightning does exist. And if a strike is close enough, the voltage from the strike travels into the ground up the ground rod and into your shack, likely frying everything connected to it. Ground is not equivalent to as place where lightning goes to die. The ground can and does get charged when struck by lightning, and connecting your radio and ham gear to it increases the danger dramatically. Lesson? Disconnect any buss bars that may be connected together inside the shack from the exterior "ground rod." Think of it this way: certain appliances come with a third wire (the green, for ground) so that it is properly grounded. In the olden days of ham radio, they weren't. What may have been necessary then (to eliminate charging the chassis of that old radio) is unnecessary today. Your ham rig IS grounded if it has a 3-prong plug. What is true for the garden variety appliance is equally true for the rig. Unless you know of an appliance that requires a ground rod being banged into the ground out the nearest window. I sure don't. If one thinks of the logic and physics of it, it really is simple. Now...RF grounding is another animal. BUT, none of these problems were ever solved (or could be) by running a ground wire from anything to an outside ground rod. First of, running a wire creates an antenna, therefore making any problem worse. Far better to put one's energy into ferrite chokes to resolve RFI than messing with "grounding." This old wive's tale needs to be put to bed. The mixup lies in the wording in the NEC code (that "equipment" must be grounded). That doesn't translate into running ground rods to everything that one plugs into an outlet. Why do ham rigs have a "grounding" post? Because the myth perpetuated over time. It is in the vast majority of cases unnecessary and actually causes more harm (from lightning, RFI and "ground loops") than any benefit that could derive from it. I live in FL. Lightning is not DIRECTABLE or CONTROLLABLE.
exactly.
I've followed this line of dissent versus the shack rod. What I haven't seen in the fridge ground rod explanation analogy is feed line in the comments. I'm in no way disagreeing here, I simply don't have the education or the math. Should the coax be connected from the antenna to the radio as a strait path? IE, take the alpha delta gas tube shunting out of the coax path that are on that shack rod, remove the ground connection from the alpha delta antenna switch and nothing connects to the 'shack rod' and it is un-bonded from the service entrance rods? I understand through following this around YT that only a tower is to be grounded and inspected by an electrical engineer for proper approval. Should there be no ground rod bonded to a vertical antenna (ie 40m vert) at the antenna mount? That rod would still be bonded to the shack/house/entire electrical system by the coax shield. I would like clarification regarding the coax if possible. Reiterating my polite tone.
@@nate43data Great questions. NEC does say any and all grounding must be bonded to the mains grounding. In many instances that is impossible if the mains is far from the station. People that run braid around the house to get to the mains simply isn't doing themselves any favors. One must have low resistance, and to accomplish that it needs to be bonded properly, which means very close to the mains. If a ham happens to have this setup (close to the mains) then they can do it right. I think if it's on the other side of the house, this is impossible. A shack rod seems to be a bad idea all around because it places a different potential from the mains ground. There are a few former electrical engineers who know NEC by heart who can confirm that there should be NO superfluous ground rod for the shack.It's a great question on the antenna ground because common sense dictates that the tower or antenna would be one of the first things hit by a lightning strike. But common sense also dictates that a direct strike would kill everything in its path no matter what precautions one takes. And removing the radio from the path should be goal 1. Hence, no ground wire to a rod outside the shack. Most of these things come into play more around the margins in the event of a nearby strike (indirect). The EMP energy is tremendous, so diisconnecting the coax from the radio is a must (esp here in Florida). In fact, there are more reports of lightning taking out household electronic equipment such as TVs in cases of an indirect or nearby strike. It gets in via the AC line...so unplugging the radio is important as well. For those that says "well the ARRL antenna book says XYZ"....I frankly don't care what they say. A myth is still a myth no matter who repeats it.
W1AL...I totally agree. I would maintain a solid ground outside for the RF path to give the arrestor someplace to dump all that energy when the gas discharge tube fires, but that's about it. I wouldn't dare connect any sensitive equipment to that same ground point as you've noted.
@@N1IA-4 Per nec you can have as many grounding rods as you want. They >cannot< be bonded to neutral anywhere other than the main panel. Things like hot tubs and pools sometimes need additional grounding rods to reduce ground resistance that can cause shocks.
You didn't mention the fact that any ground like you have must be bonded to the power company's ground. That is a NEC requirement. Without it your otherwise excellent ground is a hazard because it allows a potential difference to exist inside your house between your ground and the power line ground, and therefore surge currents will flow INSIDE your house.
This is serious. de K2XT
True. But in order to do so at my house, I would have to run at least 600' - 800' of copper to get to the power company ground. It's that far away.
@@K4SRF You mean the ground connection at every outlet travels 600-800 feet to a breaker panel where there is a ground?
So you mean go from his grounding rods outside he should go to the rod as well that the power Co. Provides?
@@scottbamasime4338 Yes, the two ground rods must be bonded together outside the house. Otherwise there can be a voltage difference between the conductors connected to them, such as the "green wire" ground connected to the breaker panel, and any conductors connected to the radio grounding rod like a coax shield. If they weren't bonded together then in the shack current will flow between equipment connected to them, and we do not want current flowing through our equipment to equalize the potential difference. Most everywhere it is a building code requirement.
@@feeatlastfeeatlast5283 thanks for teaching me something new today..much appreciated