[Boatanchors] Grounds, thanks all

[Phil]

Hi Glenn et al,
Thanks for your reply,  Actually, the "safety ground" was taken care of 
before I moved in, that is, the 10 foot galvanized rod at the service 
entrance.   As I use a "balanced antenna" (dipole) for transmitting the 
RF ground is 'probably' not of as much importance, but that is debatable 
too.

The PRIMARY reason for all the work I've put into grounding  is to 
reduce the local noise that I have to put up with here.  All sorts of 
strange noises, from sweeping multiple carriers (probably dozens to 
hundreds of switching power supplies in the park), plain old "hash" like 
you get from sparking motors, certain types of lights, etc as well as 
one VERY WEIRD WIDEBAND QRM.  On 770 KHz (+- perhaps 50KHz), it makes a 
strong "Sshh, Sshhh, Sshhh" noise at ~1sec intervals.  On 40M (and 
elsewhere) there is a related noise, same cycle, that is just the 
opposite.  That is, when if OFF on 770, it's there on 40M.   NONE of 
this noise comes from anything in my own home as I've shut everything 
down, including the utilities, (and the router and DSL modem which runs 
on the station battery) and the noise doesn't abate one iota.   That 
770KHz/40M noise is intermittent, not always present, but a big pest 
when it's there.

When I improved the ground system here,  nearly all of the local noise 
problems dropped greatly.  Thinking on the problem my suspicion is that 
since all the grounds here are tied together AND tied to the mains 
service ground, I've greatly improved the mains ground and thus any 
noise that is radiated from my own home wiring .  Walking outside with a 
portable radio certainly shows less noise around my home now  than 
around the neighboring ones.  I only checked the ones on either side of 
me as they know me and my "radio quirks".  If I were to walk around the 
other places somebody would probably spot me and complain that there was 
a "prowler" messing around.

I thank all who replied with ides.  Brian from VK land said "fix the 
QRM".  NOT an easy task in this environment.   This is primarily a 55 
and older senior park, but there are quite a few younger ones who 
inherited their homes.  Some of them are "very suspicious looking 
characters", and this being California, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if 
they had "GROW LIGHTS" in their homes.  Grow lights are very well known 
for the noise they generate. . .  You prowl around the homes of some 
folks who have them and they just might carry you away "feet first".  If 
you're unfamiliar with the term, just Google "Grow Lights".

Some nice tips here on using copper flashing etc.  But my first post was 
concerning aluminum wire as my budget is so tight.  Certainly can't 
afford copper flashing at this time :)

73 de Phil,  KO6BB
http://ko6bb1.multiply.com/ (OTR Blog)
http://www.qsl.net/ko6bb/  (Web Page)

RADIOS:
Grundigs: Satellit 750 (2011), S-350 (2006)&  G6 (2011).
Icom: R-75 with Two 250Hz CW Filters.
Kenwood: TS130S Transceiver (circa 1980).
Radio Shack: DX-380 digital portable (circa 1990).
Yaesu: VX8R Quad-Band HT (circa 2010).
Zenith: Royal-7000 Transoceanic (circa 1969).

ACCESSORIES:   Homebrewed LF Pre-Amp, MFJ-949E HF Tuner
                Homebrewed 6 Hz Filter.

ANTENNAS: 88' Long Ladder-line fed dipole, Apex at 35 feet.
           Amplified Mini-Whip up 29 feet for LF/MW
Merced, Central California, 37.3N 120.48W  CM97sh


On 3/22/2012 4:46 AM, Glenn Little WB4UIV wrote:
> I am confused as to what you are trying to do.
> If you are looking for a safety ground, this is to protect you from a
> failure in an electrical circuit.
> If you are looking for a lightning ground, the ground rods are too
> close together.
> I know of no reason to install ground rods any closer than twice the
> buried length.
> This would be 16 feet for 8 foot rods.
> In any case all the grounds should be bonded together.
> To not do so will cause you more problems than having just one rod in
> a lightning strike.
> MIL HDBK 419 (available on the web) is a very good reference for grounding.
> Motorola R-19 is what is used for Motorola site maintenance.
> In no case should braid be used for a lightning ground, it would be
> questionable for a RF ground.
>
> 73
> Glenn
> WB4UIV
>