[Elecraft] OT- Coax for ground wire?

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

For RF, you want the lowest possible inductance in the ground lead since
inductance has reactance and reactance is what you do *not* want. 

For a given length, a bigger conductor has lower inductance. I don't know
why full coax would not be as good as just the shield, although it is a lot
more bulky. The center conductor is a relatively small wire, so it would not
carry nearly as much of the RF current as the outer braid due to its
reactance. I'd not expect any benefit from connecting it. There might be a
slight advantage to having the braid round (on the coax) rather than flat.
I've not investigated that. 

FWIW, in my installation I run a 100+ foot inverted L that terminates at a
shelf in the shack above the rig where I have a large, manual, L-net tuner.
All the equipment is tied together and then to ground. I use a sheet of
copper mounted on the wall (with thumbtacks) behind the rig and tuner that
runs to where the outside ground comes through the wall. The equipment all
connects to this copper sheet through short wire pig-tails. 

Got the copper sheet for a few bucks from a hobby store. It's about twice
the thickness of heavy-duty aluminum foil and came in a roll several feet
long.

73,

Ron AC7AC

-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of W8JH
Sent: Friday, October 21, 2011 11:05 AM
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Elecraft] OT- Coax for ground wire?

I have learned quite a bit about grounding from K9YC and others on the list
over the years and thank you all for making my shack a better place.

I have been tying together outside grounds where antennas enter the house
back to the service ground as part of my improvements and have run out of
heavy wire to do so.  I do have some old RG 8X or 213 around and have been
thinking about using that for grounding.  My questions are:
1.  Good idea/bad idea?
2.  Should I use just the shield or is there any downside to bonding the
shield and center conductor at each end?

Thanks in advance for any advice offered.

73,

Joe, W8JH
K3 1713, KPA 132

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