[Antennas] How important is the ground?

[Jack Painter]

David wrote:

There are 4 different purposes for a ground connection to a radio.

1. electrical safety.  This only applies if you are connected to a power
source that may seek to get to ground through the radio.  i.e. a commercial
AC main, or a generator that is properly grounded.  If you run a charger on
the battery while you are in the house you should have a ground connection
that ties the rig case back to the same ground as the electrical system for
your safety.

--
That's just not correct, David. It's advice so old that it goes back to
before there was a fault-clearing design of all modern circuit breakers.
Since that time, it has been counterproductive to ground the case of any
three prong AC powered electronic device. In fact in the case of separately
grounded radio stations as many of us have, the NEC and NFPA required bond
from the radio station single point ground to the home's AC service main
ground is the ONLY thing that will save your life.

Ground rods do NOT, EVER protect your life in the event of equipment faults.
Earth's impedance is far too high to protect from electric shock, and there
is no way that using earth as a return circuit to the circuit breaker will
ever clear a fault.

Best regards,

Jack
Va Beach