Grounding on antenna, coaxial, or both?

[scott78945]

Should I be grounding only the coaxial prior to it entering the house or just the antenna or both? I would also assume that I will need to use at least a 4ft pole, I can't imagine having to pound that in the ground. If grounding the antenna, what do I attach the copper wire to, the antenna itself somewhere?

 

[dodge]

Grounding an ota antenna

Ground the coax at the point of entry with a ground block. It is also advisable to ground the antenna mast with a #10 aluminum ground wire. Attach the aluminum ground wire to a bolt on the mast and or Tripod and then follow the coaxial cable to ground block and then to a Ground rod. I use 4' ground rods, but it is better to go with an 8 footer.

 

[roashru]

Best earth ground from radioshack parts is called a "devils fork ground" you use (3) 4 foot grounding rods pounded into the ground about 3 to 4 feet apart in a "V" shape connecting the "V" together with about 6 to 8 feet of grounding wire then connect the grounding block to the bottom of the "V".

 

[Carl B]

If you use a separate grounding rod for your antenna and/or coax grounding block, you then need to run a #8 wire from that rod to your house's main ground. Otherwise, you may create a voltage differential problem which could cause various problems w/ the electronics in your HT and negate any good you did by grounding the antenna in the first place.

 

[scott78945]

My house is about 100' away from my antenna so how would I ground both with one rod? Is that possible? I would like to ground it at the antenna rather at the house if thats possible as we don't mow where the antenna is and don't want the wifey to even have to worry about mowing over my cabling.

 

[roashru]

scott78945, if i understand you correctly this is how i would do it: an earth grounding rod setup at the base of the remote antenna location. me, i would use copper instead of aluminum grounding wire run it up the pole with a grounding block at the antennas 300 to 75 ohm transformer using an F male to F male adapter then waterproof seal it up. you dont want to cut the coax at the bottom of the pole just to put in a grounding block coax connectors loose way more signal than coax length. i would also have another grounding block at the house somewhere. when using any coaxial cable grounding at both ends is the best way to keep the signal in that center wire.

 

[scott78945]

Ok, I am trying to picture this but I am having a little trouble. I got the fact that I am grounding the antenna itself at the base of the pole with the grounding rod but do you have me cutting the coaxial also and grounding it at the base of the antenna and at the house or just the coaxial prior to entering the house and then the antenna itself at the antenna site? It sounds like you wanted me to do both but then I was confused when you stated that going through the F to F adapters loses signal strength.

 

[roashru]

scott78945, if you already have a grounding block at the base of the remote antenna location you have already spliced the long coaxial cable to insert a grounding block that changes the coax shielding properties. i was telling you not to cut the coax just to put in a grounding block the grounding blocks should be at both ends of a long cable run. no coax connectors in the middle anywhere!

 

[scott78945]

Oh ok, I got you now. I have to buy new RG6 cabling as I do have many connectors throughout my 150'. My signal is around 85% though. I wonder what it will be when I get the new cabling and no connectors.

 

[roashru]

scott78945, If an already made 150 feet of rg-6 coax with F male connectors at the ends will be enough a yahoo shopping store called "triangle cables" has it cheap. I would not recommend trying to buy some bulk coax and putting the F male connectors on the ends yourself unless you have very good quality rg-6 coax tools like http://www.jensentools.com sell.