QRV Tech – January 2025 – Intro to Station Grounding

If there’s any subject that confuses hams, it’s likely to be grounding. It’s often discussed and often confusing. That’s because there are really at least three different types of grounding, and they are all different and require different solutions.

A full treatise on grounding could last days and require several textbooks, so this won’t be a complete treatment. But we will hopefully get you thinking about the different grounding needs and simple steps that you can take to improve your station.

If you can’t make the session, we will have it posted on the K5RWK website shortly after the presentation – but as you probably know, it’s always easier to ask questions live with all the experts available.  We look forward to seeing you then!

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Meeting Recording

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Session Resources

ARRL has several resources on Lightning Protection: http://www.arrl.org/lightning-protection

If you are interested in the “gold standard” guide for grounding and bonding for radio installations, search online for the “Motorola R56 Manual” (the 2005 edition is over 500 pages!) (it’s findable on the internet but it’s copyrighted so we’re not linking it here)

Here is an excellent example of an exterior ground block and lightning protection, as provided by John KC5JMD. PolyPhasers mounted to a ground buss, inside a weatherproof enclosure. Both the enclosure and buss bar came from Amazon.