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Building a single-story house, my radio shack will be in a bedroom that my wife has graciously, without complaining, agreed to let me use. I am confused about grounding, the articles and advice I have read seem to contradict.

As it stands now, the service panel ground to earth is via rebar into the foundation. It's code, it's accepted by the building inspector, and nothing to be done about that. The service panel will also have whole house surge protector.

To eliminate interference from other home appliances, motors etc, I will home run a separate circuit from the service panel to the shack on its own breaker. All good so far.

Some sources say that a separate ground rod is needed for the transceiver and other equipment. I understand the difference between a spider to a single point ground and will avoid a common bus that would induce an induction ground loop in the shack.

Some sources says that bonding a shack ground rod to the service panel will also create a ground loop. Saying that the equipment is already grounded by the third grounding prong on modern electrical plugs. This infers that a separate ground rod for the shack (not talking about the antenna here) is not needed. As mentioned, other sources insist on a separate ground rod.

Question is: to 1. ground rod to transceiver and equipment only, or 2. ground rod and bond to the service panel, or 3. be content with the dedicated AC circuit?

BTW - ARRL site has not be definitive on this problem.

Thanks for your time and help. -DL KK7NTU

dlowrey
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Search for the Motorola R56 publication online. The 2017 version has pictures that make things clearer than older versions.

The R56 requirements are for high availability radio installation like 911 centers so it is a bit of overkill for a ham radio operator.

However it lists all of the references like NEC, lightning protection,etc and outlines what is correct for radio installations.

You will get a lot of opinions from people, some outdated and some are just plain wrong.

Greg
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Do not sink a ground rod outside the shack. That will place you in a dangerous ground loop, putting you in danger and guaranteeing you will generate RFI/EMI. Everything inside the shack is a SAFETY GROUND; there is no such thing as an RF ground. If anyone tries to tell you you need an RF ground, ignore them. Unfortunately, most hams still use outdated grounding techniques when residential receptacles had no ground.

Use Single-Point Ground, the same topology as your home AC wiring. I have two articles for you to read. One covers the electrical code, which you must comply with, and the other is Amateur Radio Bonding and Grounding. Follow these two documents and you will be up-to-date.

Amateur Radio Bonding & Grounding Made Simple

Mike Holt Article 810