W3FPR added:
I did not intend to say that you should disconnect your equipment from the
safety gound - only that you may need to supplment it with an RF ground at
the place where your equipment connects to the antenna system. In other
words, both are necessary, and can work in conjunction with each other.
No, I don't think you did.
I have found RF ground to be pretty elusive, so don't bother.
Safety ground beyond mains leads sometimes makes things
worse, though has obvious downside. With 220 volt mains,
a failure is more dangerous, though also more obvious. The
overall situation must be kept in mind, but what I am saying
is that grounding as everyone thinks it has to be done is not
done here & therefore might be kept in mind when having to
tame RF nastiness in some situations.
Frequency of lightning even this far north drives the need
for total disconnect, so that mains lead safety ground
already there could be the place to stop & attention turned
to choking if near field isn't dominate. Bonding of major
bits at least keeps case of failed box tied to a safety ground
that I keep an eye on (and usually helps tame the nasties). A
compromise, but workable where no way to really build for
no-need-to-disconnect.
I don't think I'm implying giving up the safety ground (at least
not when operating), either. If it gets too exciting, will have
already yanked everything, as the 1N5711s become
dominate. ;^)
Artificial ground plus choking could still be the ticket for
end-fed wires, etc. I just find ground makes things worse
sometimes & I sit right under my antennas. Like black
magic, RF is. "Extra" grounding might not be your friend.
73, VR2BrettGraham
_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
