I'm putting in a new OTA rooftop antenna, on the other side of my house from the electrical service entrance. The plan is to use a ground rod at the closest earth point below the antenna and bond that to the electrical service ground rod with about 100 feet of #6 copper wire going around the house foundation.

I've heard that it's best to run that wire about a foot off the ground, and am looking for advice as to how to do that. Any and all suggestions and comments are welcome.

I'm putting in a new OTA rooftop antenna, on the other side of my house from the electrical service entrance. The plan is to use a ground rod at the closest earth point below the antenna and bond that to the electrical service ground rod with about 100 feet of #6 copper wire going around the house foundation.

I've heard that it's best to run that wire about a foot off the ground, and am looking for advice as to how to do that. Any and all suggestions and comments are welcome.

You can attach conduit to the side of the house, that will support and protect the wire. You could attach wire with wire staples (plastic head to not damage wire), could leave wire able to get snagged.

Connecting the antenna grounding rod to the electrical service ground can be done by bringing the bonding wire into the house and connecting with the shortest path.

Is your house electrical ground an outside grounding rod near the service entrance or to a city water main?

The shortest and protected path is good for bonding.

the electrical service ground has both a ground rod at its entrance (5 feet from the panel) and that's bonded to the water main that's about 20 feet away.

The water main is closest to the antenna, but I wonder if that's only connected to meet the requirement of grounding the water supply.

I'm putting in a new OTA rooftop antenna, on the other side of my house from the electrical service entrance. The plan is to use a ground rod at the closest earth point below the antenna and bond that to the electrical service ground rod with about 100 feet of #6 copper wire going around the house foundation.

I've heard that it's best to run that wire about a foot off the ground, and am looking for advice as to how to do that. Any and all suggestions and comments are welcome.
I think you miss understood
it's best to run that wire about a foot under the ground
away from the house where the drip edge is
remember no right angles are allowed
When I came to the corner of the house
did a sweeping bend then drove another ground rod

I think you miss understood
it's best to run that wire about a foot under the ground
away from the house where the drip edge is
remember no right angles are allowed
When I came to the corner of the house
did a sweeping bend then drove another ground rod

Anytime you bury a wire it should be protected.

A 100 foot run of wire one foot under the ground under the drip edge would be subject to damage. It is not to code and a hazard because it is likely to fail.

Best practice and code is that wire be at least under 18 inches. If it is in an area that could be damaged or dug into then enclosing the wire at that depth inside of conduit would be a good idea. Any buried wires should have a map made to scale for later reference.

You can make right angles with wire if you let the wire make its own path. You are correct to not force a sharp bend, if the bend followed a curve like that of a coffee can that would be fine.

I'm putting in a new OTA rooftop antenna, on the other side of my house from the electrical service entrance. The plan is to use a ground rod at the closest earth point below the antenna and bond that to the electrical service ground rod with about 100 feet of #6 copper wire going around the house foundation.

I've heard that it's best to run that wire about a foot off the ground, and am looking for advice as to how to do that. Any and all suggestions and comments are welcome.

I had the same situation as you. What I did was the use a ground rod at the closest earth point below the antenna then I bonded that rod to a outside water faucet about 15-20 feet away. I burried the bonding wire under ground, not sure how deep. I just used a shovel to dig a trench.

I had the same situation as you. What I did was the use a ground rod at the closest earth point below the antenna then I bonded that rod to a outside water faucet about 15-20 feet away. I burried the bonding wire under ground, not sure how deep. I just used a shovel to dig a trench.

What you did is better then nothing but not to code. You can decide what you want to do but just letting you know it is not up to code.

It is possible for a connection to an outdoor faucet will have an electrical resistance that will make it not be at the same electrical potential as your house electrical ground. If that was true then you would not have it perform as intended for safety and may give some problems in your video system.

Best practice is to bond the antenna ground rod to the same location that the electrical ground for the house, water main or grounding rod.

The outdoor faucet is subject to corrosion and mechanical disruption. Better would be to take the bonding wire and connect to the pipe inside feeding the faucet (still not to code but better than outside), a connection there is less likely to go bad.

What you did is better then nothing but not to code. You can decide what you want to do but just letting you know it is not up to code.

It is possible for a connection to an outdoor faucet will have an electrical resistance that will make it not be at the same electrical potential as your house electrical ground. If that was true then you would not have it perform as intended for safety and may give some problems in your video system.

Best practice is to bond the antenna ground rod to the same location that the electrical ground for the house, water main or grounding rod.

The outdoor faucet is subject to corrosion and mechanical disruption. Better would be to take the bonding wire and connect to the pipe inside feeding the faucet (still not to code but better than outside), a connection there is less likely to go bad.

I understand what the the BEST practice is and what the code is. I went through all of this when I grounded my antenna several years ago but sometime compromises have to be made. My house is over 100 ft long and my antenna is on the other side of the main house ground so I decided to go my route. BTW no issues what so ever.

My power meter is connected to the outside grounding rod at the service entrance, leaving only the three wire service cable connecting to the electrical panel. Is the neutral of the service cable connected to ground at the meter? The electrical panel is grounded (with a separate 1/0 wire) only to the water main entrance about 20 feet away.

So, bonding the antenna ground rod to the water main (if it's not a great ground by itself) is then two more hops away from the ground rod (if the meter grounds neutral). This seems like a lot of undesirable twists, turns, and connections before getting to the ground rod. That's why I'm thinking it's best to bond directly to the ground rod, even though it's much further away.

My power meter is connected to the outside grounding rod at the service entrance, leaving only the three wire service cable connecting to the electrical panel. Is the neutral of the service cable connected to ground at the meter? The electrical panel is grounded (with a separate 1/0 wire) only to the water main entrance about 20 feet away.

So, bonding the antenna ground rod to the water main (if it's not a great ground by itself) is then two more hops away from the ground rod (if the meter grounds neutral). This seems like a lot of undesirable twists, turns, and connections before getting to the ground rod. That's why I'm thinking it's best to bond directly to the ground rod, even though it's much further away.

The neutral is grounded at the meter, this should only be done once in the system. This is done to make the neutral at ground potential it doesn't have to be the grounding point for your electrical system.

If three wires came to your breaker box then the meter ground is not your system ground. The system ground would be your water main. It does depend on the distance from meter to breaker box and if the neutral was bonded to the ground at the breaker box (which I don't think it is from your description).

You have 2 ground rods and so which you are referring to is ambiguous to me.

Anytime you bury a wire it should be protected.

A 100 foot run of wire one foot under the ground under the drip edge would be subject to damage. It is not to code and a hazard because it is likely to fail.

Best practice and code is that wire be at least under 18 inches. If it is in an area that could be damaged or dug into then enclosing the wire at that depth inside of conduit would be a good idea. Any buried wires should have a map made to scale for later reference.

You can make right angles with wire if you let the wire make its own path. You are correct to not force a sharp bend, if the bend followed a curve like that of a coffee can that would be fine.

Should be using at least a #6 bare copper wire or larger
Is not going to be easily damaged and not with out knowing it. Well not like knowing when you hit a live wire But #6 is not easily cut
fine go with 18"

you want it to be in soil that will be wet as often as possible buried in direct contact with the ground not in conduit it has more ground contact to disperse into
on corners I let the wire make its own path
then added a ground rod over kill maybe but
knew a ham who put em every 16' half way to the house bonded to his well then 16' the rest of the way to the house ground

So my Invisible Dog Fence buried 1" for the last 5 yrs should be 18" in conduit Hmmmmm
wonder how well that will work now
where did I put that map

Should be using at least a #6 bare copper wire or larger
Is not going to be easily damaged and not with out knowing it. Well not like knowing when you hit a live wire But #6 is not easily cut
fine go with 18"

you want it to be in soil that will be wet as often as possible buried in direct contact with the ground not in conduit it has more ground contact to disperse into
on corners I let the wire make its own path
then added a ground rod over kill maybe but
knew a ham who put em every 16' half way to the house bonded to his well then 16' the rest of the way to the house ground

So my Invisible Dog Fence buried 1" for the last 5 yrs should be 18" in conduit Hmmmmm
wonder how well that will work now
where did I put that map

The dog fence has to be near the surface for it to create a field for it to function.

18 inch burial is the code for wires as part of a power system. in conduit for where it might be easily damaged like under a driveway. away from the house under a drip edge could be an area easily damaged depending on what someone does with their yard for landscaping.

the wire being talked about is a bonding conductor and is not a grounding electrode, so it could be insulated wire or in conduit. it is the grounding rods are what makes contact to the earth. you are confusing the two.

grounding electrodes do not have to be in frequently wet soil, just 8 feet of contact with the soil any where. if the soil is rocky or sand then two grounding electrodes are required.

overkill beyond code is OK if you want to go to the trouble or expense.

Why can't you just ground the antenna mast with a ground rod without bonding to your house ground?

Why can't you just ground the antenna mast with a ground rod without bonding to your house ground?

You can, though it is not up to code nor is it the safest or best performing.

Grounding the mast (and the coax shield) to a ground rod is better then not doing anything.

Best method is to have the mast/tower grounded to a grounding rod. The antenna coax goes through a lightning arrestor (gas or gap) which lets higher voltage on the center conductor go to the shield, then to a grounding block (this just before the coax goes into the house) which connects the coax shield to ground, the grounding block also connects to the antenna mast grounding rod. The antenna grounding rod is bonded to your house ground system.

Current will flow between two differences in voltage. If a voltage on your antenna (and on the antenna coax and antenna mast because they are all in the same location) then a current will flow to the earth through the grounding wire and the antenna coax. The antenna coax will have a voltage on it higher then the electrical ground of your house (which is in your tv system) then current will flow through your equipment to your house ground, this could damage your equipment and if the current is high enough it will set things on fire. These type of thing could shock people or cause fires depends on where it specifically occurs in your house.

A voltage can be placed on your antenna from static charge produced by wind or a lightning strike within a few miles.

Most frequent problem is poor performance because of a current flow between the antenna ground and house ground in your equipment because of a voltage difference causing distortion of audio and video. Less frequent but costly is damage to your equipment from current caused by a nearby lightning strike.

The bonding keeps the voltage equal and this lessens the chance of damage, fire, death and poor quality video.

John,

Good information here, but here's my problem. When they built my house they grounded the service by connecting it to the rebar in the footer. In order for me to bond my mast to my electrical service I would have to go through the wall in to the crawl space, and across the other side of the house. Is there a problem with this?

John,

Good information here, but here's my problem. When they built my house they grounded the service by connecting it to the rebar in the footer. In order for me to bond my mast to my electrical service I would have to go through the wall in to the crawl space, and across the other side of the house. Is there a problem with this?

Your beaker/fuse box will have a wire/cable going into concrete some where which is the grounding conductor. You can connect to that along its length with a split bolt connector. You should be able to connect to that without having to go into the crawl space.

If it takes a bonding conductor to run the length of your house to be up to code then that is the way it is. Doing things right can be expensive and troublesome. Routing the wire through the crawl space would give it the most protection but you could route it around the outside of your house. If the crawl space is hard surfaced then use an automobile creeper. If the crawlspace is soft surfaced or rock the do it on your back with 2 large pieces of cardboard/foamboard/plywood lay on one and move the other one, wiggle from one piece to the other, makes it easier especially with low clearance crawl spaces.

People doing things up to code is your choice. If you wanted to get some protection (that is not up to code) then bond your antenna ground to anywhere to your electrical grounding system, that would be better then nothing. It might prevent minor problems like audio and video problems or voltage caused by wind from destroying your equipment. You still may have your equipment destroyed by induced current from a nearby lightning strike, or start a fire or give a person a shock. Some protection but it is not up to the code and is not best practice.

It's the hdtvprimer.com antenna basics page

http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/basics.html

I was referring to (see section heading "The NEC requirement") where it says The wire should run close to the ground so that side flashes will likely arc to the ground. It is OK to run this wire around the exterior of the building. In this case keeping the wire 6” to 12” above ground is best.

That otherwise looks like a pretty good reference.

I think you miss understood
it's best to run that wire about a foot under the ground
away from the house where the drip edge is
remember no right angles are allowed
When I came to the corner of the house
did a sweeping bend then drove another ground rod

Some articles say it's very important that the antenna feed coax come close to the ground before entering the building through a ground block that's bonded to the grounding electrode. Thus it should go to ground level, enter the building, and route back up to an attic room if that's where the TV is.

Is there really any difference between this and putting the ground block at attic level and running the grounding wire down to ground level and the grounding electrode?

Some articles say it's very important that the antenna feed coax come close to the ground before entering the building through a ground block that's bonded to the grounding electrode. Thus it should go to ground level, enter the building, and route back up to an attic room if that's where the TV is.

Is there really any difference between this and putting the ground block at attic level and running the grounding wire down to ground level and the grounding electrode?

By having the coax enter the building near the ground, then the grounding block is near the ground and close to the grounding rod. A high voltage current coming down through the coax then has a very good path to ground before coming into your house. If the coax enters the house at attic level and the grounding block is at that level the current would have a better chance of getting into your house before it would get to ground. It might seem wrong if you are thinking shortest paths for all the connections but it is best for electrical safety. Better to run more coax then have your tv or house set on fire.

Some articles say it's very important that the antenna feed coax come close to the ground before entering the building through a ground block that's bonded to the grounding electrode. Thus it should go to ground level, enter the building, and route back up to an attic room if that's where the TV is.

Is there really any difference between this and putting the ground block at attic level and running the grounding wire down to ground level and the grounding electrode?

The important part is the ground block be as close as practicable to the point of entrance
So if you enter in the attic the ground block must go there