Ground = God

[office888]

I've had my Maco V58 + Diamond F23 on the roof for a while.

I finally got around to running a proper ground however. I've had an 8 foot by 5/8" copper-clad rod drove into the ground, but I kept forgetting to get the wire.

Well, I was at menards, and I figured why not. I picked up some 6 AWG solid wire. I used a torch to heat up the rod + wire, and soldered them together. I also put a large hoseclamp on it to give it more strength.

Now, I didn't feel like messing around on the snowy roof in the dark, so I just kinda wrapped the wire around the masts a bit.

I came in to see if it made a difference yet.

I'm definitely noticing a drop in atmospheric noise. The biggest different I've noticed, is the 80m RX on my Maco V58 is a ton quieter.

I'm curious to see how it'll be once I get them properly bonded to the towers, and run my ground system.

It'll be:
Equipment Ground
Antenna Ground
House Ground
~3 more rods, spaced about 6 ft apart
Rohn AX tower ground rod

All linked together!

 

[mackmobile43]

Glad you got around to connecting the ground rod to your system but soldering is not the way to go for a connection of this type, the solder kinda sort of acts as a fuse in a lightning strike, your best bet is to use this style clamp for a solid connection.

I actually prefer this style but they're a bit more pricy.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Mack has the idea about ground connections. In fact I believe in most areas it is actually illegal, or at least against code, to solder a ground cable because of the reason mack suggests. The solder will actually vaporize in the event of a strike and cause the ground connection to open and fail. All ground connections should be a strong physical connection or cadweld.

CADWELD

 

[office888]

Mack has the idea about ground connections. In fact I believe in most areas it is actually illegal, or at least against code, to solder a ground cable because of the reason mack suggests. The solder will actually vaporize in the event of a strike and cause the ground connection to open and fail. All ground connections should be a strong physical connection or cadweld.

CADWELD

I soldered AND clamped it in place.

 

[mackmobile43]

I soldered AND clamped it in place.

Good luck. I mean GOD luck