grounding

[Mr Love]

hello gang i just got a new base amp a 5pill
do i need to ground the amp too like the mobile setup
with all the ground straps to a ground rod
or is the house ground good?

[Barefoot 2301]

In my opinion the more grounds the better. I would put as much ground as possible.

___________________________

Barefoot in the BAM just got down

[MOONSHINER]

if you can, run a seperate ground rod and ground all your stuff to that.

[Sheriff Bart]

yeah you don't want that continuity to your house ground in case of a strike. run a separate ground to a separate ground rod.

[DX47]

Run a ground rod as close to the radio shack as possible. Problem is if the ground wire, such as in a house ground is too long, it will resonate on 11meters, and then you have problems.

[North Texas Mudduck]

please don't use the house ground
you will be making a huge antenna array for RF welcome to the world of tvi and neighbors calling and knocking

run separate grounds for RF equipment

[316]

please don't use the house ground
you will be making a huge antenna array for RF welcome to the world of tvi and neighbors calling and knocking

run separate grounds for RF equipment

Then you may have a chance to meet the Men in Black(FCC)

[dud muck]

In my opinion the more grounds the better. I would put as much ground as possible.

yea well grounding for TVI ain't gonna help. just read [Please login or register to view this link]

thats one smart cookie there.

he's also got a page on why to ground, for base-stations: [Please login or register to view this link]

yet, the original post in this thread was from four months ago?

[danoj77]

Here is also a good source of information on grounding.

[Please login or register to view this link]

[KW KID]

[Please login or register to view this link]

My thoughts exactly. See alot of these old **Censored** hams are so technical, yet do not have hands on experience.

I do.

I've done every conceivable test with grounds. Multiple ground rods, wires, separate grounds, everything.

I had Rfi on my own phones and tv, did before and after tests with grounds etc, along with neighbors etc, and nothing made any bit of a difference. I even tried my 5/8 with and without ground radials = no difference.

Please anyone chime in if they actually experience improvement by doing these supposed things that supposedly help.

Also didn't notice any RX/TX or noise differences either.

[Blackdammit]

Hello,

I have on my own base setup an RF tap ground for all of the radio equipment.
A ground attached to the shield side of the I-max 200 antenna that I use and
it goes into a spring below the house... That's right just dropped it right into the
water! And for the lightning I installed a death ground.
[Please login or register to view this link]

[Sheriff Bart]

Blackdammit, nice pic of your setup..is it possible to avail some pics of your grounding ? I don't know how many members are still following this thread because it's a few months old but your death ground and spring ground piqued my attention and may rejuvenate this thread. I wanted to ask KW Kid what antenna he was using on his base because he said nothing has worked and just guessing it may be a coil over fiberglass antenna situation.
Welcome to the forum !!!!

73's

[KW KID]

The 5/8 antenna was an Alpha 5/8 MACO. Had it up about 20 above the roof. I tried w/ and w/o ground planes = no difference. I think if you want a real solution you deal with the receiving end of the interference, i.e. chokes, filters etc, on the speakers etc of what is getting the interference. If you had a toggle switch for your ground, then flipped it from on to off, has anyone noticed a difference?? [Please login or register to view this link] has the most detailed info on grounding thus far, and maybe I didn't go far enough as they suggested. I'll find out again, because hopefully there will be a tower soon, and if I'm daring to chance wasting some time and money on this elaborate ground system, I will gladly follow up with my findings.

[North Texas Mudduck]

someone say something about grounding the base
[Please login or register to view this link]

[Please login or register to view this link]

[Please login or register to view this link]

[drdx]

There is a big difference between an electrical ground, for example the ground rod deal or whatever. A single ground rod or the equivalent will do little for the rf portion of a station. Read up on the arrl or orr publications for clarification, but a good rf ground is more in the direction of a good grounds radial system, screen, grid, etc, like the above poster. I hear the "well casing ground" or the "cold water" deal, but a real ground scene involves more. Nice gear in the pic, I see a kenwood hf rig (or 2), a heathkit sb 200 it looks like, a CDE control box, a Grundig receiver, some Dosy meters, a BCT8, possibly a realistic SW receiver on top of an unknown device, a cb base of some kind, and another reciver and moble rigs. I don't see anything like ground drops or wiring. Let's see the meat and potatoes of this deal, in terms of setup. We need to see some beercans, slim jims, sweat, and blown fuses here. This deal looks like some melted plastic and some internet time. And, despite the various items, there isn't a lollipop in sight. Where are the Maco's, Varmints, Trams, Cobras, etc? This is cbradiotalk.com, not qrz.com's slum area. Is this where all the hams who don't have enough iron for a pic on the ham bands come to shine??? They are more than welcome here, just admit 27 meg is the final destination for all of radio hobby greatness, and the door, and your mind, will open. Let me guess, No-code tech, never accepted by the local hammies, am I hittin home here???? -drdx

[Sheriff Bart]

ouch drdx, that was harsh ...kw kid, what coax is attached to your maco ??? are you using the double shielded type ? if so then you may solve your problem by building a choke (or balun) at the antenna input. if not switch up to a double shielded coax...213, 214, lmr-400 etc.


73's

[Red Ranger]

Blackdammit,
Welcome to the forum.

[209 first class]

excellent thread. i took drdx's post as sarcastic friendly slap on the back humor. if i took a station pic, i too would clean up the empty soda cans, clear tools & stripped wire from the desk, solder blobs, rolling papers, girlie mags, hide unfinished projects. i guess it would be more fun to show the junk. great links, i use the arrl antenna book. all good info. as they say if the ground wire is over 1/4 wavelength, ur asking for trouble. it will pick up more rf than it gets rid of. im on the second floor, so i did the counterpoise ground. all eqpt tied together to a common point, then a 1/4 wave counterpoise off that. then i thought hey, the earth ground on my 3 prong outlet is longer than a 1/4 wavelength, so am i screwed from the beginning? probably. kw, i didnt notice any difference either. but at least i know its set up 'by the book' with copper braid/copper rod/copper counterpoise all soldered. as far as the TVI, i dont think there is a cure. the only thing i have not tried is a GENERATOR that is not tied into any wires that are connected to anyones house. the only thing i found that WORKS pretty good is to put ur radio back to stock, so it doesnt go over 100% modulation. then instead of using the audio drive to swing up the needle, use a big deadkey your eqpt can handle comfortably. dont worry about being quieter, the dead key will quiet the other stations and u will sound like an fm radio dj. to test this out, listen to second cb on headphones(with no antenna attached), transmit on channel 30 with your cb rig the way it is now, but listen on channel 10 or 1 on the headphones. notice how u can hear your voice across/thru the channels? u can tell what u are saying. now rig it up with 100% modj, try the same thing, with high dead key. now, on channel 1 or 10 when u talk u will just hear some pops and ticks come thru. those are the spikes that make it thru before the limiter catches it. if ur neighboor cant hear your voice, they wont know what it is. i have a simple switch between the clipped diode in my radio, allows me to go from stock to modified. 209

[rev ike]

i like the shelf over the desk my steel case desk is similar i may attempt the 2x4 add on hutch looks strong enough too

[Blackdammit]

What's the matter do I hear a note of jealousy? If we ever talk you will hear
studio quality CB.


blackdammit

[Blackdammit]

I just wanted to say one more thing about grounding an antenna
on the the shield side. Try driving a large wharf spike into preferably
a walnut tree-cedar works too. And attach the other end to the shield.

Please do not try this if you have a lot of lightning but if you must try
it anyway get a good pair of running shoes and go have fun.

I have found that it does give a slight edge to the transmit. The tree
acts like a ground rod and an antenna at the same time.


blackdammit

P.S. Don't try to tune the tree

[Blackdammit]

I just wanted to say one more thing about grounding an antenna
on the the shield side. Try driving a large wharf spike into preferably
a walnut tree-cedar works too. And attach the other end to the shield.

Please do not try this if you have a lot of lightning but if you must try
it anyway get a good pair of running shoes and go have fun.

I have found that it does give a slight edge to the transmit. The tree
acts like a ground rod and an antenna at the same time.


blackdammit

P.S. Don't try to tune the tree

[drdx]

Well, please don't assume any offense from my end, as it is all fun here. The tree idea is definitely thinking outside the bun. Seeing as how you appear to be in NJ, we should hear you down in TX as the conditions improve with this cycle. I operate on 28, as do a few more here, but I doubt studio quality sound would ever come out of my radio's speaker, especially on that channel. Transmit wise, I'll be the guy on there who's radio sounds like a CB. It has that mobile, d104, am, full of crap sound and dialog, but that's me. -drdx

[Blackdammit]

Sheriff Bart,

I am taking a beating on my grounding methods sooo I'm going to have to
send the forum a diagram of the way I did my installation.

I did the math and there is about 1/4 wave +/- between the antenna and
the first Cu ground rod then it runs in a straight line to the next Cu rod
which is in a spring below my house. All wire is insulated and buried in
the ground.

The rod in the spring as all the cu grd. rods were treated with salt for an
instant Grd.

I just lucked out with the spring. I'm going to put up an old/new PDL V/H
beam ant. on a 50 foot tower on the other end of the house and as luck
would have it there is a 75 foot dug well right next to the base. Guess how
that beam is going to be grounded?

And as luck would have it again the difference between the beam and Grd.
should also be 1/4 wave +/- it should be a real A&& kicker.

All guy wires on that install will be grounded so they don't become radiators
and the tower will be grounded.

So I will get that diagram out soon so that it might clear things up a bit.

[Sheriff Bart]

I'm sure we all would like to see it Blackdammit. From the amounts of replies to this subject I think there will be some note takers and some more questions for you too.


73's