[R-390] Ham Shack Grounding Help!!!!

[Joe Foley]

> One thing I'm thinking might be the problem, but I'm
> not sure is the wiring
> in this old house.  It has the old two wire system. 
> Would this make a
> difference as far as hash noise on my radio?  If
> this is so, what am I going
> to have to do to fix it.  I don't want to have to
> tear into the walls as
> they are plaster.
++++++++
Hmm,.........

So far,......... all but one of the replys to this one
have dealt with grounding.

The problem here is that there is NO grounding!!  Not
with the old two-wire system.  Tighten the coax
connectors?  Well, that will bond everything tighter
together, but there is STILL no ground!  Actually, in
this case it may just make a bigger antenna for the
noise to be received with.

Wayne's cabinet is connected to a cold water
pipe,...... why?  RF ground?  The cold water pipe
isn't a very good RF ground, rusty connections, is it
metal all the way to the ground?  Are there rubber
washers in the meter connections?  Is there a jumper
acrossed the meter?  How far does the metal pipe
travel when in contact with the ground before it
connects to plastic?  Any rubber washered splices in
the ground?  Copper or steel pipe?

Kim, you need your house re-wired!  Or at least your
shack so the noise has a PATH to ground.  Remember,
this noise is a very LOW voltage you need a very GOOD
connection to ground so there is NO resistance to that
signal.  That means BIG wire and SHORT runs.

If the walls are plaster you may be able to re-wire
the first floor by mounting Wiremold boxes on the base
boards.  OR you could cut flush-mount boxes into the
baseboards.  Usually plaster walls have wide enough
base boards to accomodate such a plan.

If your wiring is THAT old all the way through then
you probably don't even have a ground at the panel!

Even if you have some three wire receptacles they are
NOT grounded to anything!

That two-wire system has NOTHING to short out against!
 Except, maybe, the neutral, IF the connections in the
panel are tight enough to pass enough current to blow
the fuse.  Got any "blue" lugs in YOUR panel?  Got
fire insurance?

You'd be amazed at the scary things I've torn out of
old houses...

I hate old houses, just finished one and have another
to do next week, the owner has NO idea what its going
to cost either,........ she'll need a new service to
add ANYTHING!  It hasn't been worked on in 40 years!

ZZZZzzzzt!  POOF!!

Joe





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