Grounding question

I want to be sure I do a good job in grounding my mast, antennas, and coax. My basic desire to do things right is reinforced by the fact that violent thunderstorms are common at my Mississippi cabin.

I will do a ground-up mount using Radio Shack antenna mast. This mast has a pretty tough coating, and I have read that such coatings should be scaped off to ensure electrical contact between mast and mount, and then repainted or resealed after attachment. I plan to remove the coating with emery cloth and then repaint with Rustoleum spray paint.

I plan to do this in three places: at the 91-XG mount, at the YA-1713 mount, and where I attach a ground clamp low on the mast near the ground rod that I will drive. Then I'll run ground wire from the clamp on the mast to the ground rod and on to the house ground to tie things together.

I have a grounding block for the coax and will run a ground wire from it to the rod.

Does this sound OK?

Thanks again for your help,

Al

Hello Al,

Your general plan sounds great! You've done your homework well! Is the radio shack mast painted? If not, I don't believe there is any advantage in using the emery cloth to roughen up the contact surface and then spray paint. My mast was purchased at Lowe's and does not require preparatory work prior to attaching the grounding wire.

Good luck! You have a excellent handle on the situation!

Rick

Great plan, you are doing it expertly.

Does this sound OK?

OK?
It sounds freaking perfect!

Many thanks, guys. This needs to be right -- I've seen and heard thunderstorms there that folks in Minnesota wouldn't believe!

Rick, I have the mast. It has a very tough gray paint on it. I think I need to get to bare metal somehow, either with emery cloth or scraping.

Best,

Al

Yeah, I agree! I'd also use emery cloth on a painted mast.

Best,


Rick

If it was my antenna, and if I wanted to do it my way.

I would go out and buy all stainless steel clamps and saddles and nuts and flat washers.

I would not use the regular commercial grade antenna mast pipe like they sell in Lowes or Radio Shack. Usually the pipe is some type of tin that has been rolled and then crimped into the shape of a tube.

The only strength to the pipe or tube is the crimp area of the pipe.

Even if you were to go to Lowes or any electrical supply house and buy a length of heavy wall Galvanized conduit and attach the antenna's to the conduit and then paint the conduit with a Zinc chromate primer and then finish off with what ever color you desire. You will find that your mast pipe will last much longer then if you used the factory pipe that came with your antenna or that you bought in a store.

I also use a piece of Nuclear grade Polyken 226 tape over the top of the pipe and then tape the Polyken tape to the pipe with 3M 110 corrosion protection tape.

It keeps the water from going down inside of the pipe and rusting it from the inside out.

http://www.findtape.com/shop/product.aspx?id=391&setscreen=1&width=792&height=425

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/3MElectrical/Home/ProductsServices/Products/?PC_7_RJH9U5230GE3E02LECIE20OES1_nid=TLT7LC7J9Jbe2 R3TDRZMR3gl

My son and I were pretty impressed with the 10' section of mast I got from Radio Shack that we used to probe for signals. I picked up another 10' piece and a 5' piece yesterday for the final installation. As mentioned in a separate thread about our testing, we attached the mast to a 2x4 with U-bolts for our experiments. This mast is stout and stiff stuff. We noticed the 2x4's flexing when we walked the antenna array up, but not the 8-foot section of mast that extended past the 2x4. So later when we disassembled our work, we tried to flex the mast and were impressed with it's rigidity. Perhaps this is a new offering at Radio Shack. I think it is made by Antennacraft. It's 16 gauge steel with a really tough coat of gray paint -- almost seems to be baked on. I believe this mast will be strong and durable. I agree than for maximum life it is good to keep rain out of the interior. I had been thinking I might try something like gluing a closely fitting PVC cap on top.

Al

...a piece of Nuclear grade Polyken

Take your med's JB!

16 gauge steel is a piece of tin. Most times when you tighten the clamps, the pipe kinks. The kink is the weak link in the set up.

I have 2 - ten foot sections of galvanized cyclone fence pipe, electric weld DOM, 1 up the side of the shed and the second above the antenna rotor for my 8200U antenna and in a windstorm, the mast pipe bends about 25* from perpendicular.

16 gauge steel is a piece of tin. Most times when you tighten the clamps, the pipe kinks. The kink is the weak link in the set up.

I have 2 - ten foot sections of galvanized cyclone fence pipe, electric weld DOM, 1 up the side of the shed and the second above the antenna rotor for my 8200U antenna and in a windstorm, the mast pipe bends about 25* from perpendicular.

Overachiever, I would say. Not that there is anything wrong with that...I am sometimes that way myself.