[Remembering Spock]

I have an RCA ANT751R mounted about 5' above my chimney with a large aluminum and construction screen reflector that I made to increase gain. I never grounded it. I was going to hammer a grounding rod into my yard local to the chimney and do it that way, rather than find a metal connection point on the house somewhere. Would that work as well, or do I have to hunt around for the house's main ground and somehow tie into it (more of a hassle). Thoughts? Thanks!!

 

[olyteddy]

... Thoughts? Thanks!!

Read the sticky post ^ up there? Lots of good grounding info there.

 

[richart]

I have an RCA ANT751R mounted about 5' above my chimney with a large aluminum and construction screen reflector that I made to increase gain. I never grounded it. I was going to hammer a grounding rod into my yard local to the chimney and do it that way, rather than find a metal connection point on the house somewhere. Would that work as well, or do I have to hunt around for the house's main ground and somehow tie into it (more of a hassle). Thoughts? Thanks!!

Short answer: If you install a ground rod in your yard local to the chimney, that ground rod needs to be connected back to the house's main ground with a large copper wire (such as #6 which many electrical codes require--check your local code). The reason is to keep the electric potential of all the grounds in the system at the same level in the event of a nearby lightning strike or electrical surge...otherwise you may suffer more damage if the different grounds were to have differing potentials.

 

[Remembering Spock]

Short answer: If you install a ground rod in your yard local to the chimney, that ground rod needs to be connected back to the house's main ground with a large copper wire (such as #6 which many electrical codes require--check your local code). The reason is to keep the electric potential of all the grounds in the system at the same level in the event of a nearby lightning strike or electrical surge...otherwise you may suffer more damage if the different grounds were to have differing potentials.

Thanks Richart! Will act accordingly

 

[DrDon]

Read the sticky post ^ up there? Lots of good grounding info there.

This.

Please use existing threads before starting a new one.