[Elecraft] Grounding & Receivers

[K4IA@aol.com]

Dudley

The K1 is remarkable.  You will not be disappointed.  

As for grounding, I too have a second floor shack.  I run a full KW in 
addition to a 756Pro, an FT920, K1 and K2 without a problem.  I use a ladder 
line fed doublet, a 2 element mini beam and a GAP Titan vertical so I guess I 
have every possible type of antenna in the air.  The secret is to "unground" 
your station.  If you are trying to run a ground wire to the earth, it is 
acting as part of your antenna.  Get rid of the ground wire.  

For lightning protection, run your coax down from your antenna and tape a 
foot or so of it to a ground rod then make a right angle turn, run the coax 
along the ground, then tape a foot or so of it to a ground rod right before 
you make a right angle turn to go up to your shack.  This is not a perfect 
solution but the idea is the lightning will jump to ground rather than make 
those right angle turns.  I have no personal experience as whether this will 
really work in case of a direct strike but it is a solution that has some 
logic.

Radio K4IA
Craig Buck
Fredericksburg, Virginia USA
QRP ARCI #2550  FISTS #6702 CC 788 Diamond #64
K1 #470    K2 #2460 
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