OTA ground connection

[man00]

I made one of these type antenna but I used PVC board instead of wood.

I need to ground it, I found this laying around, will this work to ground the antenna

 

[Peter Parker]

Consider posting this in the OTA forum and not the one for DISH.

 

[AZ.]

Ground it the the screw that holds the plate on to the nearest outlet.

 

[dishdude]

If it's indoors it doesn't need grounded.

 

[man00]

The antenna is outside mounted on the overhang of my roof..Yeah I should have posted in OTA forum...my bad

 

[raoul5788]

I moved it for you.

 

[ancient]

Yes that grounding block will work. Ideally you would put it on the outside of your home as close as you can to the electric meter and electrical service entrance to your home. Run a #10 or larger wire from from the grounding block to the thick copper ground wire coming out of your electrical service panel and going to the ground using a split bolt connector (you may see such a connector already there from an old or current phone or cable TV ground connection), then connect cable from your antenna to the grounding block and then another cable from the grounding block to the inside of your home, wherever you need it. Don't forget to leave drip loops on both sides of the cable.

If you can't see the grounding cable coming out of your house (maybe because they put it in conduit) you can dig and find the ground rod and connect directly to that (being careful not to damage the house ground), but it is usually easier and better to find the ground wire coming from your circuit breaker panel and going to ground. If there has even been phone or cable service at your house, those have to be grounded, so you can look to see where their grounds are connected and connect yours in a likewise manner.

If your antenna run is nowhere near the electric meter and grounding cable, you can put the grounding block just before the point where the antenna cable enters the house on the outside of your home (and again don't forget the drip loops), and run #10 or better solid wire from the ground block to the house ground as described above. You do have the option of driving another ground rod close to the grounding block but if you do, by law you still must connect it to the house ground, so you still must run that length of expensive (and possibly ugly if you can't hide it in some way) ground wire around your house. In that case you are dealing with two requirements, one that your antenna ground be at the same potential as your house ground, but on the other hand lightning will take the shortest path to ground and you don't want that to be through any part of your house. So a second ground rod right below the ground block isn't a bad idea but then that ground rod has to be connected ("bonded" as the electricians say) to the main ground rod(s) for the house. That is why cable and phone installers will usually take great pains to make their lines come to your home close to the electric meter (and will put their boxes there), even if that means they have to staple many feet of ugly black coax cable to the outside of your home to get to your TV.

If all this sounds like an expensive hassle, try putting the antenna in the attic (if you have one) and see if you get adequate reception there. An attic antenna doesn't have to be grounded. If you don't have an attic, maybe you have a closet or pantry you could put it in, that's on the highest floor of your house.

 

[ancient]

Ground it the the screw that holds the plate on to the nearest outlet.

Nope. By law it has to be outside the home. Do you really want lightning coming inside your house and then trying to escape through a screw on a wall plate, which probably is NOT grounded because they used a plastic electrical box or "mud ring"? There are electrical codes for a reason!

 

[AZ.]

Nope. By law it has to be outside the home. Do you really want lightning coming inside your house and then trying to escape through a screw on a wall plate, which probably is NOT grounded because they used a plastic electrical box or "mud ring"? There are electrical codes for a reason!

What are you talking about? Its a home build TV antenna!!!! If lighting hits that he has WAY MORE PROBLEMS! lol

Seeing your lack of electrical knowledge even when they use plastic boxes they must have a ground wire bonded to the ground of the receptacle which makes the ears center screw all grounded

Your service is to only have one place where the neutral is bonded to ground. If this was outdoor I would agree....

 

[FTA4PA]

If this was outdoor I would agree....

The antenna is outside on the overhang of the roof. See post 5: OTA ground connection

 

[AZ.]

The antenna is outside on the overhang of the roof. See post 5: OTA ground connection

Then I wouldnt ground it at all under an eve....You have a better chance of a transient lightning strike coming up through the ground rod.....That lightning would have to hit the roof and go through a lot to hit the medal of the antenna

 

[FTA4PA]

Then I wouldnt ground it at all under an eve....You have a better chance of a transient lightning strike coming up through the ground rod.....That lightning would have to hit the roof and go through a lot to hit the medal of the antenna

Guess that's your choice. I've seen lightning do some crazy $hit and I would never trust using an ungrounded antenna setup. Don't think the insurance company would pay off on an improper setup when your house burns down either. They have lawyers that love to find technicalities like that.

Section 810 of the NEC requires grounding of the mast and coaxial downlead to the GES. Even if there is no mast (eve mount) at a minimum the downlead should be grounded outside by bond to the GES.

 

[AZ.]

Guess that's your choice. I've seen lightning do some crazy $hit and I would never trust using an ungrounded antenna setup. Don't think the insurance company would pay off on an improper setup when your house burns down either. They have lawyers that love to find technicalities like that.

Section 810 of the NEC requires grounding of the mast and coaxial downlead to the GES. Even if there is no mast (eve mount) at a minimum the downlead should be grounded outside by bond to the GES.

Im well aware of the NEC......If you have seen all that....Well than you would know the insurance company picks anything.....Plenty of homes get hit all the time....and btw....For giggles go around your neighborhood and see how many dishes arnt even grounded!

The damage caused by lightning strikes does far more structural damage inside and out..... Fires being the most common!

Notice all are exposed to the weather, under the eve it would not be...

 

[FTA4PA]

Im well aware of the NEC......If you have seen all that....Well than you would know the insurance company picks anything.....Plenty of homes get hit all the time....and btw....For giggles go around your neighborhood and see how many dishes arnt even grounded!

The damage caused by lightning strikes does far more structural damage inside and out..... Fires being the most common!
View attachment 157446
Notice all are exposed to the weather, under the eve it would not be...

Like I said before. If you're comfortable doing it 'your way' then you go right ahead. That's your choice and I'm glad you are smarter than the folks who write the NEC. I'll do it the right way and see who's better protected. I'm done debating with you. Have a great day!

 

[Jim5506]

The grounding of the antenna is not to mitigate the effects of a lightening strike, it is to help reduce the build up of negative charge in the antenna and that would reduce the likelihood of a strike. If lightening strikes, damage will happen and the ground has failed to prevent the strike. The ground wire will probably be melted in the first few milliseconds of the strike.

 

[Tower Guy]

The grounding of the antenna is not to mitigate the effects of a lightening strike, it is to help reduce the build up of negative charge in the antenna and that would reduce the likelihood of a strike.

Also, the ground on the coax, even on an indoor antenna, is there to prevent induced current from a nearby lightning strike, from damaging equipment.

 

[arlo]

Yeah. Grounding is all hype. Why bother? It's a peach to come home to this. Besides, copper is expensive.

 

[Jim5506]

Grounding is important, not necessarily because it protects equipment when you get a strike (it might help with a nearby strike by dissipating induce current to ground), but because it helps prevent a strike by dissipating the build up of the charge that attracts the strike. If God is gonna get you , God is gonna get you.

 

[Comptech]

I ran dishes for years and was lucky with them not grounded. But when I moved 4 years ago I decided to do it right. My radio antennas are mounted on masts20 feet tall on my second story deck and my service comes in under the deck, so easy peezey to connect to the house ground. My OTA antennas had to go out front along with my dishes.My OTA is on a 30 foot mast, so I decided to put a ground rod at the dishes and the OTA antennas, dug a trench and ran about 60 of 6Ga. solid copper to the house ground and bonded them all together. Only thing I did not do right is get the rods 8 feet down, more like 4 to 5 foot. Damn red clay and granite. Any deeper would require dynamite.

 

[Comptech]

Yeah. Grounding is all hype. Why bother? It's a peach to come home to this. Besides, copper is expensive.

View attachment 157454

Reminds me of when I was in Florida, lived in lightning ally. A straight line from Ft. Myers to Stuart. The big boomers would build up over Lake Okeechobee and head to the coast. A buddy of mine got ATT to install DSL. Came home to smoldering modems twice. I had a friend who worked for them so I had him go over and check it out since ATT was just replacing modems when it happened. Turns out the phone service came in on the other side of the house from the electric service, so they just banged a ground rod into the ground and did not bond it do the house ground.