Amateur Radio Station Grounding

Recently there has been a lot of discussion (and arguing) on station grounding at the various “hang outs” online that I frequent, as well as questions directed to me from amateur operators. I think it is time I write a little bit about this, from my own perspective. It seems to me that there is a lot of “stuff” out there on the subject that is mostly good, but there is a lot of bad information which sort of ruins all of the good. There is also the issue of the old mentality “well my elmer did it this way, and his elmer did it that way so I am going to do it that way! Anything else is a waste and not needed. They’ve never had problems so neither will I!”.

That is about as reckless as you can get, when it comes to protection of life and property. Notice that life came before property. That is a key part to understanding and implementing station grounding.

I will attempt to “cut the crap”, and provide some basic guidance on station grounding in my following blogs. These are to be considered as supplemental guidance if you will, in the design and implementation of the average amateur radio station system ground system. There are the requirements to comply with National Electrical Code (NEC) in the USA and those will be addressed as well. After all, the station ground is required to be compliant with NEC if you reside within the United States. I cannot comment on stations outside the USA as I do not have experience with their regulations or codes.

My goal right now is not to provide the be-all-end-all bible of station grounding, but rather to help folks understand what is required and why.

Stay tuned for more.

FBOM, de N7AMD sk sk sk