Our home was a direct hit a number of years ago. $20,000 damage. Lightning hit the galvanized gooseneck bathroom fan exhaust on the roof. It vaporized the plastic connection tube from the fan to the roof outlet. But the connection tube was a flexible type with a wire stiffener coil inside it. It grounded through this coil to the fan and down to the basement where the ground rod was. It blew every piece of electronics in the home even those not connected to an outlet. My kids phone charger cable was lying across the metal heating vent and it was pulverized. Even my neighbours suffered electronic damages. The stove moved away from the wall 6 inches and the whole circuit board was toasted. Needless to say when it’s stormy outside I get a little gun shy. Lightning is nasty stuff, I can still smell the ozone and remember the static charge feeling we both felt also the incredible noise. Hope I never have to experience that again.
Wow, that is intense... There is very little you can do to protect your home and electric devices from a direct lightning strike. The standard so called lightning arresters do a great job at directing static electricity to ground and they will provide some protection during a nearby (not direct) strike though. Arresters are usefull then, but noit so much against a direct strike to your home. If I lived in an area with frequent thunderstorm activity, I would definitely try to keep a direct lightning strike to the mast at the mast by grounding it there.
@@erpece Thanks for the advice. Don’t have a high antenna or mast at the moment but planning one for the future. So gathering all the correct information so I do right the first time to avoid further reoccurrence of nature’s wrath.
Finally, after over 440 video’s I caught Dave in a mistake - however slight. He said use #6 bare stranded THHN. The THHN is the insulation, so if you want bare wire and buy THHN, you’re going to have to strip the THHN off of it. Love ya Dave! Keep the great advice coming!
Depending on the distance between the mast and the house, I would want a grounding rod at the mast too. In case of lightning, whether a direct strike or not, the sooner the pulse gets shunted to ground, and the farther from the house it is, the better. I have a separate ground line for the mast on my roof, in addition to my station ground and can detect no static discharges regardless of the humidity or wind speed. Several years ago, the BBC issued a report on precipitation generated static. One of its recommendations was to reduce or eliminate the number of sharp points or edges on the mast hardware. Even putting insulating caps on bolt ends can supposedly help. 73
Temporary some times become permanent. I don't know what kind of soil he has. I live in Florida and have sandy soil.I have seen many times where ground rods get glassed over from lightning! Where the ground rod got so hot it turned the sand into glass. Believe it or not the radio didn't get much damage. It did blow the connector off the coax took out the FET at the front-end of the reciver, some damage to the duplexer jumpers. After seeing that I ground everything as many times as I can. But Florida gets more lighting than the n3xt 4 next states put together. Florida is where most of the lighting testing is done, at The Cape! Cape Canaveral! They have had many launches hit!
Dave, I have three masts. Can I install a ground block and connect the three grounds to the block and then run one common number six copper wire from the ground block to the ground rod?
My brother lost 2 radios, one was an antique Yeasou that got destroyed immediatly during a lightning storm. He had arrestors up the wazoo, someone forgot to tell the lightning the arrestors were there. Like they never existed. Can't happen twice right? , it happened a 2nd time back in 1983, 2 years after the first one. He got rid of whatever he had and never got another radio. His house had almost burned down. Ground wires were very heavy gauge both times, everything over-designed, he is a union electrician here in upstate NY.
Soooo.... lightning knows the difference between a "temporary" mast and a permanent one? LOL If a metal mast is setting on the ground (or in the ground) then is, for the most part, effectively grounded, at least for static discharge purposes. Also, as I mentioned in the comments of another of Dave's videos [here on UA-cam]: When running "bonding" lines from ground to ground (or ground rod to ground rod), it's best to use SOLID copper wire, not stranded, ESPECIALLY if you are intending on burying it. Bare stranded wire can get moisture and corrosion between the individual strands of the wire, and this leads to increased resistance and impedance (or less "conductiveness"), which is NOT what you want in your grounding system. Use bare, SOLID #4 or #6 copper wire (readily available at home improvement stores), and bury it as deep as you can, for the run between the ground points (i.e., ground rods). As a benefit, this buried wire also adds more "ground" to your ground system! 73, ~Alan
My antenna tower is 200 feet behind the house near the highest spot in my yard. Therefore, I grounded my tower at the tower. From what I have read in many books , when your tower is over a certain distance from the house, a long ground wire from the tower to the house SPG is not recommended due to inductance issues because of the long run. I certainly have not run experiments to check this out, but with copper prices through the roof, local grounding for towers over 100 feet away from the house is the way to go presently.
Multiple ground rods is only needed for distance between possible ground rods. It does not matter how tall the mast is. If the base of the mast is close by, then only one ground rod is needed. If the mast is far away, then it may need a ground rod at the base.
If my antenna mast is connected to 8ft ground rod in the back side corner of house, along with arrestor for the coax…and my home’s GES is in the front center of house. Do I really need to run #6 copper all the way to the front of the house to bond the rods? For me thats about 50’ worth and will go around half the house.. Is it really needed?
Can you please clarify as most videos I see from you keep assuming the shack is on the 1st floor, mine is on the 2nd, can’t I run a ground wire from a lightening arrestor placed just before the coax enters the 2nd floor shack, To a ground rod using 8 awg or so …copper wire..thank you
Can i bind a grounding rod at the base of my 20ft mast to the gas meter pipe? Is it necessary to run the copper wire all the up the mast to connect at rod near the base? Thx!
Adding more Lightning Arrester's or Joiners or Cable i thought was a bad idea, to many joins to go wrong and way way more loss, does a Corona Ball work on a Big Antenna for Static ?
Great video as usual! Watching this reminds me of a topic I've been thinking about. The question that I have is, how far can you separate your radiating element from the counterpoise or ground plane. To better explain what my question is, here's a scenario. I put a quarter wave element on top of a mast. (Let's say 30 feet up) that quarter wave element is connected to the center conductor of a coax cable. The coax then runs down to a barrel connector. that barrel connector is connected to a ground plane. The coax then continues to the transciver. Would this even work? Or does this already exist? I've searched the internet and haven't found anything useful. Any answers are more than welcome. Thank you in advance. 73
Grounding very much depends on the type of soil and the momentary/actual (!) groundwater level. In any case, 30cm is not enough. 3' is much better, but will be insufficient in like dry desert soil. A general recommended depth would be 2 meters or 6'.
I have 30 FOOT aluminum mast bolted to the side of my mobile home. It has never been grounded. My shack is grounded that is all. Never had a problem with it.
Our home was a direct hit a number of years ago. $20,000 damage. Lightning hit the galvanized gooseneck bathroom fan exhaust on the roof. It vaporized the plastic connection tube from the fan to the roof outlet. But the connection tube was a flexible type with a wire stiffener coil inside it. It grounded through this coil to the fan and down to the basement where the ground rod was. It blew every piece of electronics in the home even those not connected to an outlet. My kids phone charger cable was lying across the metal heating vent and it was pulverized. Even my neighbours suffered electronic damages. The stove moved away from the wall 6 inches and the whole circuit board was toasted. Needless to say when it’s stormy outside I get a little gun shy. Lightning is nasty stuff, I can still smell the ozone and remember the static charge feeling we both felt also the incredible noise. Hope I never have to experience that again.
Wow, that is intense... There is very little you can do to protect your home and electric devices from a direct lightning strike. The standard so called lightning arresters do a great job at directing static electricity to ground and they will provide some protection during a nearby (not direct) strike though. Arresters are usefull then, but noit so much against a direct strike to your home.
If I lived in an area with frequent thunderstorm activity, I would definitely try to keep a direct lightning strike to the mast at the mast by grounding it there.
@@erpece Thanks for the advice. Don’t have a high antenna or mast at the moment but planning one for the future. So gathering all the correct information so I do right the first time to avoid further reoccurrence of nature’s wrath.
Finally, after over 440 video’s I caught Dave in a mistake - however slight. He said use #6 bare stranded THHN. The THHN is the insulation, so if you want bare wire and buy THHN, you’re going to have to strip the THHN off of it. Love ya Dave! Keep the great advice coming!
Caught that also. I don't why bare wire would be preferable? I usually use green insulated wire.
Good catch!
@@BryanTorok bare wire is less expensive.
I caught that too, and also in another video he posted a short time back. I mentioned it in that video, but got no response...
@@Calico5string1962 Sorry, I don't see every comment. You are correct.
Depending on the distance between the mast and the house, I would want a grounding rod at the mast too. In case of lightning, whether a direct strike or not, the sooner the pulse gets shunted to ground, and the farther from the house it is, the better.
I have a separate ground line for the mast on my roof, in addition to my station ground and can detect no static discharges regardless of the humidity or wind speed.
Several years ago, the BBC issued a report on precipitation generated static. One of its recommendations was to reduce or eliminate the number of sharp points or edges on the mast hardware. Even putting insulating caps on bolt ends can supposedly help.
73
Temporary some times become permanent. I don't know what kind of soil he has. I live in Florida and have sandy soil.I have seen many times where ground rods get glassed over from lightning! Where the ground rod got so hot it turned the sand into glass. Believe it or not the radio didn't get much damage. It did blow the connector off the coax took out the FET at the front-end of the reciver, some damage to the duplexer jumpers. After seeing that I ground everything as many times as I can. But Florida gets more lighting than the n3xt 4 next states put together. Florida is where most of the lighting testing is done, at The Cape! Cape Canaveral! They have had many launches hit!
Dave, I have three masts. Can I install a ground block and connect the three grounds to the block and then run one common number six copper wire from the ground block to the ground rod?
My brother lost 2 radios, one was an antique Yeasou that got destroyed immediatly during a lightning storm. He had arrestors up the wazoo, someone forgot to tell the lightning the arrestors were there. Like they never existed. Can't happen twice right? , it happened a 2nd time back in 1983, 2 years after the first one. He got rid of whatever he had and never got another radio. His house had almost burned down. Ground wires were very heavy gauge both times, everything over-designed, he is a union electrician here in upstate NY.
Soooo.... lightning knows the difference between a "temporary" mast and a permanent one? LOL
If a metal mast is setting on the ground (or in the ground) then is, for the most part, effectively grounded, at least for static discharge purposes.
Also, as I mentioned in the comments of another of Dave's videos [here on UA-cam]:
When running "bonding" lines from ground to ground (or ground rod to ground rod), it's best to use SOLID copper wire, not stranded, ESPECIALLY if you are intending on burying it. Bare stranded wire can get moisture and corrosion between the individual strands of the wire, and this leads to increased resistance and impedance (or less "conductiveness"), which is NOT what you want in your grounding system.
Use bare, SOLID #4 or #6 copper wire (readily available at home improvement stores), and bury it as deep as you can, for the run between the ground points (i.e., ground rods). As a benefit, this buried wire also adds more "ground" to your ground system!
73,
~Alan
My antenna tower is 200 feet behind the house near the highest spot in my yard. Therefore, I grounded my tower at the tower. From what I have read in many books , when your tower is over a certain distance from the house, a long ground wire from the tower to the house SPG is not recommended due to inductance issues because of the long run. I certainly have not run experiments to check this out, but with copper prices through the roof, local grounding for towers over 100 feet away from the house is the way to go presently.
Multiple ground rods is only needed for distance between possible ground rods. It does not matter how tall the mast is. If the base of the mast is close by, then only one ground rod is needed. If the mast is far away, then it may need a ground rod at the base.
If my antenna mast is connected to 8ft ground rod in the back side corner of house, along with arrestor for the coax…and my home’s GES is in the front center of house. Do I really need to run #6 copper all the way to the front of the house to bond the rods? For me thats about 50’ worth and will go around half the house.. Is it really needed?
Can you please clarify as most videos I see from you keep assuming the shack is on the 1st floor, mine is on the 2nd, can’t I run a ground wire from a lightening arrestor placed just before the coax enters the 2nd floor shack, To a ground rod using 8 awg or so …copper wire..thank you
Can i bind a grounding rod at the base of my 20ft mast to the gas meter pipe? Is it necessary to run the copper wire all the up the mast to connect at rod near the base? Thx!
How close can the bonding wire coming off of the antenna mast be to the coax running from the antenna mast as well?
Does the mast on a Discone antenna have to be perfectly vertical
Adding more Lightning Arrester's or Joiners or Cable i thought was a bad idea, to many joins to go wrong and way way more loss, does a Corona Ball work on a Big Antenna for Static ?
Thank you, Dave. N0QFT
You have me reconsidering things.
Great video as usual! Watching this reminds me of a topic I've been thinking about. The question that I have is, how far can you separate your radiating element from the counterpoise or ground plane.
To better explain what my question is, here's a scenario. I put a quarter wave element on top of a mast. (Let's say 30 feet up) that quarter wave element is connected to the center conductor of a coax cable. The coax then runs down to a barrel connector. that barrel connector is connected to a ground plane. The coax then continues to the transciver.
Would this even work? Or does this already exist? I've searched the internet and haven't found anything useful. Any answers are more than welcome. Thank you in advance. 73
good info
Question: If a Gal Pole goes 30cm/1foot into the ground does it need a ground if it is in the ground, or should it be 3ft minimum into ground ?
Grounding very much depends on the type of soil and the momentary/actual (!) groundwater level. In any case, 30cm is not enough. 3' is much better, but will be insufficient in like dry desert soil. A general recommended depth would be 2 meters or 6'.
@@erpece Thx but 6 foot = 1.8 meter and 7 foot =2.1 meters, so i was half right with 3 foot (x2)
Nice....... .
I have 30 FOOT aluminum mast bolted to the side of my mobile home. It has never been grounded. My shack is grounded that is all. Never had a problem with it.
NEC 810 only requires a #10 for bonding masts... dont know why he always says #6...
No wonder Ham is dying.