Big score on a portable C band dish

[rrob311]

I was able to obtain a Comtech 12 foot portable C band dish. It is mounted to a trailer. I am going to set it up in my backyard but I am pretty sure 12 feet is going to do just fine. It is fiberglass. Does anyone have any thoughts on grounding it when I set it up? I was thinking of just planting a rod in the ground near it. What gauge wire should I use?

 

[SatelliteAV]

Ground only to the home's ground or if you drive a rod near the dish, bond the rod also to the home ground using the appropriate gauge.

 

[Anole]

How dare you come to the party and not bring pictures! -

 

[rrob311]

 

[PopcornNMore]

That would look very nice in my garage. Congrats on such a great find.

 

[radio]

Wow! That's very cool, and very interesting! (not to mention huge at 12 feet opened up!)

A trailered "temporary" setup beat a local issue I ran into in my former hometown. The town said, "too close to propertly lines to mount permanantly" when I lived in a storefront apartment, so a trailer did the trick with a tall pole and gave me full view! When I was told, "License the trailer"...I said, "its a specific purpose trailer" (and this got us past the licensing needs, though the trailer never moved an inch after it was put in place.) Later, a fence around the trailer hid the wheels. Stayed that way nearly 10 years! Concrete on an adapted and shortened dual axle boat trailer and 4 trailer jacks made the whole thing stable.

 

[toucan-man]

Ground only to the home's ground or if you drive a rod near the dish, bond the rod also to the home ground using the appropriate gauge.

So you would bond the second rod to the home ground with buried bare stranded cable? What problems would you encounter if you used more than one rod, but they were not bonded?

 

[SatelliteAV]

So you would bond the second rod to the home ground with buried bare stranded cable? What problems would you encounter if you used more than one rod, but they were not bonded?

Bare or jacketed wire. Check your local codes or national code for the proper gauge for the length of run.

You could create a dangerous or even deadly voltage potential by setting a ground that is not bonded to the residence ground. Discharges might actually be directed through electronics rather than harmlessly to ground.