"Rick (W-A-one-R-K-T)" wrote in
news

Many things I've read over the last couple of weeks on the proper
grounding of towers and ham stations all emphasize the importance of a
single point ground.

What if it's not possible to implement that?

My tower is on the other end of the house from where the electrical
service (and its associated ground) are. I did not put the tower there
and if it had been left up to me it wouldn't have gone there, but
that's
another story for another time... point is that the tower and the
service
ground are 50+ feet apart, and the shack (using the only available
spare
bedroom) is on the end of the house where the service ground is.

I can beat a fistful of ground rods around the tower, and put another
one
in the ground below the shack window (that's the one I'm doing now),
and
bond it all together with buried heavy gauge copper wire that also
bonds
to the service ground... but that ain't a single point ground, it's
more
like a 50+ foot long distributed ground.

So, how do I achieve that ideal "single point ground" in a situation
like
this?


Rick,

I think you are envisaging too great a scope for your single point
ground, and it is unlikely to work as you want.

The reason for single point grounding is to make sure that you do not
have endesired current paths (and associated potential drops), and
prinipally between equipment in an equipment room.

If you thing about what it is trying to achieve, minimising potential
differences between equipment interfaces by avoiding potential
differences between the "ground" points of equipments, then you should be
able to intelligently design a single point grounding scheme in the
equipment room and bond it to your external grounds (tower, AC earthing,
others) in a similarly sensible way.

Owen