[Elecraft] Issue 12 re Astron Power Supply

[Don Wilhelm]

George,

I think you are talking about apples and oranges.  Yes, a good ground 
rod system is for lightning protection.  I have a grounding system in 
place at my house with a driven stake at each place where the perimeter 
wire connecting them make a 45 degree turn or more.  That is also 
connected to the Utility Entry Ground rod.

If you are fighting audio noise, hum and buzz problems (now that we have 
low level audio stuff in the hamshack) - disconnect that wire AND bond 
all enclosures together as K9YC suggests.
We have the "pin 1" problem in modern ham gear.  In olden days, it was 
not a problem because connectors were mounted on the enclosure 
metalwork, and any pickup of hum, buzz and noise was conducted on the 
'outside' of the enclosure and away from thee signal lines on the inside.
Today's practice is to mount those connectors directly to a PC board 
where any hum, buzz and noise will be conducted onto the PC board ground 
plane where it will couple to the signal PC traces.

For purposes of hum, buzz and noise reduction, that Power Supply should 
be cut and the enclosures in the system bonded directly together (not 
each to a single point ground).

Remember that this bonding and grounding will NOT help with RF problems 
- those are taken care of with good common mode chokes in the antenna 
system to choke off current on the outside of the coax shields.

73,
Don W3FPR


On 4/16/2018 9:28 AM, George Danner wrote:
> Re-Connect it!
> 
>> From a broadcaster (AM,FM & TV) was in South Florida (lightning 
>> capital of 
> North America).
> 
> The more massive the common (ground, bonding, whatever term you use) for 
> the connection between equipment and the power company ground connection 
> the better.
> We even used ring grounds around studio & transmitter building with 
> ground rods every 10' all cad-welded. This is probably over kill for a 
> ham station; but think as massive as you can.
> Towers at 500' or above had 2 ring grounds and lots of ground rods.
> 
> The common for equipment interconnection is for safety first and the 
> reduction of voltage drops on the common lines that can transfer from 
> one piece of equipment to another (us old timers use the term ground 
> loop - not PC any more).