Phil, K2ASP said:
"... make sure that your station equipment is bonded to each other and
grounded to a common ground that is bonded to the "house" ground."
Each component of my entire station is bonded to a common point at the
bulkhead to the shack via 1 3/8" wide copper straps. The bulkhead point is
connected to an extensive ground field: 5 ground rods tied together in a ~5'
radius arc with ~6-8 ga solid copper wire. All coax braid is connected to
the bulkhead. The system also includes ground rods at the base of each tower
and vertical.
The house ground at the service entry point is a single rod with stranded ~8
ga into the house. The house ground and shack/antenna grounds are not
directly connected except through grounded outlets, etc.
At what point / where should the two be more robustly joined?
73 James / K1SD / Rhode Island
-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Phil Kane
Sent: Saturday, July 28, 2012 12:44 PM
To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] [K3] GFI outlet, 100W on 20m, and *poof* (RFI?)
On 7/28/2012 5:59 AM, John Shadle wrote:
> I'm using Leviton smartlockpro 20A GFCI outlets from Home Depot.
> They're not "cheap", but maybe they don't have adequate RFI protection
> (obviously).
>
> I suppose the first solution is to remove the GFI from the situation,
> but I thought using it was the "right thing to do". Any personal
> anecdotes or advice would be welcome.
The first thing that I would check is the "green ground", i.e. the grounding
wire. For something like this, it should go directly to the ground bus
inside the entrance panel, not tied in with any other "green ground". Are
you using metal conduit / "Thinwall" or PVC? If metal, check the grounding.
They make "hubs" that have a screw terminal for just that purpose.
Second, make sure that your station equipment is bonded to each other and
grounded to a common ground that is bonded to the "house" ground.
This is important both for RFI reduction and for safety.
If that doesn't alleviate the problem, contact the Leviton technical
assistance folks. This may be a known problem and they may have a "fix"
for that model of GFCI, or s others have said, try a different brand or
convert the circuit breaker to a GFCI type - maybe the best bet.
Hard to diagnose this at long distance.
--
73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane (PE - Electrical)
Elecraft K2/100 s/n 5402
VP - Engineering and General Counsel
CSI Telecommunications, Inc.
Consulting Engineers
>From a Clearing in the Silicon Forest
Beaverton (Washington County) Oregon
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