[Elecraft] Grounding negative side of power supply?

[Tom W8JI]

<Refer to the NEC.  It's their rule.

As a side note, a loss of property covered by insurance may 
be dissallowed
if they find improper grounding contributed to the damage. 
And they
reference the NEC with regard to "proper".>

I'm not so sure we aren't getting carried away with our own 
interpretation of NEC rules here. We also have to apply a 
little technical "common sense" to our systems.

I have antennas and towers scatter over thousands of feet 
distance. It would be totally worthless and physically 
impossible to bond the ground rods on my antennas to my 
mains ground. The additional protection to my house and 
equipment, and to people, would be zero.

In addition to no improvement in protection, the 
effectiveness of the low-noise antennas would be greatly 
decreased.

Then we have to consider odds that power lines, trees, and 
our large towers would be ignored by lightning and a small 
ten-foot-tall  twenty-foot-long, antenna would be struck. If 
it were struck, where would the majority charges move? In 
the feeder to the house. If the feeder ground were bonded to 
the mains ground at the building entrance, the safety issue 
for people and the dwelling is closed at that point. The 
ground at the dwelling entrance, that is mandated by NEC to 
be bonded to the mains ground, is key to safety. Not the 
critical signal ground at some backyard clothesline antenna.

I also frequently hear that "insurance disallowed" 
statement. If insurance was "disallowed" for a NEC safety or 
rule violation, very few claims would ever be paid. In my 
entire life I can't recall having a claim denied because of 
something like this. I would bet well over half of  Ham 
stations lack a proper entrance or station ground bonded to 
the mains ground, but I don't recall ever knowing of a claim 
disallowed for that gross error.

73 Tom