[HCARC] RF Grounding Counterpoise

Sat Oct 6 16:28:44 EDT 2012

OOPS - Reflector won't allow me to do red.  Anyway, it's the part about 
running a #8 wire 1/2 inch underground all the way around your Ham Shack for 
an RF Counterpoise.

Gary J
N5"BAA"

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gary and Arlene Johnson" <qltfnish at omniglobal.net>
To: <hcarc at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Saturday, October 06, 2012 3:25 PM
Subject: [HCARC] RF Grounding Counterpoise

> This article in hamuniverse.com on grounding seems to talk about something 
> I have not heard of being necessary or even desired.  The part I am 
> wondering about is the section of the quoted part concerning running wire 
> completely around your Ham Shack to act as an RF Counterpoise.  I need 
> your comments - as I said I have not heard of this, but have the wire to 
> do it if neccessary.  I want my "BAAAAA" to be as loud and clear as 
> possible.  The part in question is the part in red.
>
> Gary J
> N5"BAA"
>
>
> http://www.hamuniverse.com/grounding.html
>
> "Your ground run should go directly to the ground where you should have a 
> ground rod for the connection point,  (which will be connected to all your 
> other ground rods in the system as discussed above).  This run must be 
> less than nine feet to be effective.  If you are on the second floor this 
> will make this length impossible.  Use of a shielded ground* wire can stop 
> radiation of the ground wire but you will still have a lousy ground. 
> Nothing can change this.  Ground wire tuners only turn your ground wire 
> into a counterpoise for your antenna, meaning it WILL radiate.  This will 
> only ensure that the low voltage point of your antenna will be at your 
> radio.  Next we need to form our  RF counterpoise outside at our ground 
> system.  You will next need to add some bare copper wire at the RF 
> feedpoint where your shack ground wire connects to.  I prefer to use bare 
> 8 gauge copper ground wire here.  It is single conductor, bare copper and 
> easily bent and run around house.  Single stran
>
> d is best but it should definitely be bare even if you have to strip 
> insulation off wire.  Run it around the house or anywhere it will stay out 
> of the way fo lawn equipment but not buried deeper than 1/2 inches.  This 
> is CRITICAL.  RF will not penetrate soil deeper than this at these 
> frequencies.   Those bonding wires you have between ground rods and ground 
> rods do not exist to the RF!   Burying this wire under wood chips or 
> similar non conductive landscaping, etc is the way to go.  This 
> counterpoise should be as long as the wire antennas you have in the air. 
> For most hams this will be about 130 feet.  Longer is better.  I run all 
> the way around my house.  I have found the eight gauge will push into the 
> spacing used between driveway and foundation when persuaded with the 
> proper tool, (READ HAMMER).  You can connect the loop back on itself at 
> the feed point.  This can add several S units to the receive signal and 
> dramatically reduce noise on the signal, though nothing will h
>
> elp all the noise on 80 or 160 meters.   Years ago I installed a long wire 
> antenna that was about 250 feet long and about 50 feet in the air.  This 
> should work fantastic you say.  I had three ground rods outside window of 
> shack with single ott solid copper ground wire direct to tuner. Ground 
> wire length was only six feet.   All three rods were spaced about eight 
> feet apart with connecting bare wire interconnecting them....in other 
> words, a really good surge ground.  What I did not realize at that time 
> was how lousy my RF ground was.  We could not tune the antenna on most 
> frequencies and we kept getting zapped from the radio or microphone when 
> we transmitted.  Also, our signal reports were lousy.  SO, after 
> consulting some experts, I added 250 feet of counterpoise around the 
> building consisting of some bare 6 gauge copper wire I had.  The radio was 
> on while I rolled it out and a friend was listening to the broadcast on 40 
> meters, (OK it was night time---best time to do antenn
>
> a work right!)  Anyway he reported the broadcast was only about S 4-5 on 
> meter.  As I rolled out the counterpoise it rose to 40 over S9 and came in 
> much clearer.  We were able to tune everything easily now and SWR was rock 
> stable.  When we did a signal test, the station we had talked to before 
> accused us of running a contest amplifier.  We could not convince them it 
> was only 100 watts, same as before and the same antenna! "
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