Grounding Transceiver? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / rf-microwave

author: vinlove
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2019, 07:51:52 pm
content: I see a ground post at the back of the transceiver, but where should it be grounded to for the best?Is it necessary / beneficial / must to ground your transceiver?Why or why not?

author: vinlove
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2019, 06:08:54 am
content: No one knows about grounding transceivers?

author: German_EE
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2019, 09:01:48 am
content: The need for a ground depends on your antenna arrangements. If, like me, you are using an end fed wire then there is a possibility of high amounts of RF in the shack so you really need to ground your transceiver and your antenna tuner. If however you transmit into a balanced load such as a dipole or a beam then the stray RF levels will be lower and you can probably get away with no ground.As for the grounding method there are two schools of thought:a) Separate ground leads all leading to a common point, normally an earth rod.b) A ground 'bus' running along the back of your equipment constructed of substantial material, all equipment connects to this including the connection to the ground rod. This is the method I prefer and I have a 22mm copper pipe running along the rear of the shack table that is grounded to the radiator.HOWEVER !Check your local electrical codes. In most installations you have a choice between the mains earth or your own separate ground. Under certain circumstances connecting your equipment to both mains earth and a ground rod could cause issues with RCDs.

author: vinlove
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2019, 10:17:34 am
content: Yeah, I think one has to avoid connecting anything to mains electricity earth point for grounding. Then RF feedback will return to the transceiver, atu and power supply causing many problems.I have 2x HF antennas and one is a loop, and the other one is End Fed wire, and I am thinking of grounding my rigs using thick 2.5cm earth leads to two large metal tool boxes and then another 2x 2m tall garage shelf metal frames.But I was wondering if there would be better idea for grounding methods, and how many people actually do ground their rigs and how.

author: radiolistener
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2019, 10:59:39 am
content: Mains grounding doesn't needed for antenna at all. Grounding is required for any equipment which is powered from mains. It is needed for safety.Don't confuse antenna ground with mains ground. These things are completely different. Antenna ground means counterpoise. You can try to use mains ground as counterpoise, but it will works very bad and noisy. With the same effect you can use mains neutral or mains phase as antenna ground, but it works the same bad and even more, this is very dangerous.

author: vinlove
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2019, 11:23:50 am
content: Quote from: radiolistener on October 11, 2019, 10:59:39 amThat is what I was saying.

author: tkamiya
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 20, 2019, 02:49:40 am
content: Back of your radio is a SAFETY GROUND. A left over from Tubes/hybrid era. Back then, A/C plugs were two prong variety, and it was necessary/suggested for safety reason to ground the case. On today's 12V radios, it's really not necessary.If you do connect something to it though, MAKE SURE that ground is BONDED to the house's main ground. Otherwise, near by lightening strike will case enough voltage differential and in some cases, be worse than not grounding at all.RF ground is a whole different topic. That, too, will need to be bonded to the house ground somewhere.

author: vinlove
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 20, 2019, 08:44:42 am
content: Well put for the topic.I think there have been confusion on this topic due to some transceiver manuals had shown how to bond their transceivers, ATUs and power supplies all in one chunk of copper bar and then to grounding earth of some sort.The rig's ground has to be separated from the antenna tuner's ground, and in our case where the mains plug has 3 pins, and one is for grounding into the mains electrical earth, the rigs really don't need to be grounded.

author: m3vuv
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 20, 2019, 02:43:36 pm
content: the mains on most houses built in the last maybe 30yrs uses a pme system,in reality there is no earth,the earth pin on a plug is basicaly tied to neutral.