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Difference between revisions of "Grounding Bulkhead with supressors for your scanning station"

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Below I drilled the holes with a hole saw to add my grommets.
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Here are the grommets in place.
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I finally finished painting the tilt-over, so before I lifted it I install another coax shield block just below the mast where I will connect a ground cable from the block to the mast.
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I wish I took a better picture, sorry about the quality. This is the with the outer cable stripped.
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http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b287/tonsoffun26/Grounding%20bulkhead%20for%20tilt%20over/100_2614.jpg
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Here is the block installed around the cable and if you look closely you can see the anti-oxident coming out of the block and is totally filled, just wipe of the left over and put it back in your container for later use. After wiping the anti-oxident off I sealed it with RTV silicon so no water will enter that block.
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Places to purchase suppressors and accessories:
 
Places to purchase suppressors and accessories:

Revision as of 18:45, 10 August 2008

WARNING:

Contact with high voltages from electricity or lightning is deadly. Consult a licensed professional before you design, build, connect to or operate any kind of electrical grounding system or lightning protection scheme. Neither the members of the RadioReference.com Wiki nor Lindsay Blanton assume no liability for any material or advice presented here, all of which is for purely educational purposes.

Here is some great info on grounding, check it out! I have always used this site for info. There is so much information on the internet about grounding that sometimes may make your head explode. Again, I am no professional and just trying to make my shack a little safer and mostly to give people some simple insight on grounding, but also not spending a ton of money doing so. This project will be mounted on my Tilt-Over that is in the Wiki.

Yes, You NEED to bond your electric power entrance ground to your radio station ground, AND you NEED to bond your tower ground to the rest of your ground system. BOND all grounds together! It is a very good idea to add some 8 foot ground rods every 20 or so feet along your bond wire path if running for a long distance. Always add weather protection to ground rod connections. Products such as RTV Compound, or roof patching tar make for electrical joints. Use an anti-oxidant compound to coat the conductors before connecting them together as a further protection from weatherization. Many are available, I am using Ideal Noalox.

I purchased this outdoor equipment box from my local electrical supplier.

100_2551.jpg

For the inside bulkhead I already had a piece if of 1/4" aluminum to mount all my ICE suppressors.A rack panel of 1/8" thick aluminum is quite nice and easy to obtain through electronic distributors. Copper plate is ideal if available, but even a steel plate is acceptable. A bulkhead plate is defined as a high integrety, zero or low inductance earth terminal connection. For that reason a bulkhead plate should always be placed very close to or on the ground with its lead connections to earth entry point very short - preferably less than a foot long.

100_2552.jpg

I built this grounding hub fitting but can be bought Here. This hub is mounted on the aluminum bulkhead in the box and is directly going to be mounted on a ground rod. Remember that all equipment that will be mounted on this bulkhead will be coated with Anti-oxidant to ensure good conductivity, More on that later.

100_2554.jpg

This picture below is a grounding block that I built(but can be bought Here) for my coaxial cable shields and is one of the most beneficial and inexpensive procedures that communication owners can undertake to reduce ground level leakage radiation, lower receiver noise, provide direct shunt control of lightning currents and establish common-point neutral. This is also directly mounted on the bulkhead before the cable is connected to the suppressors. Some info on why these could be an important part of your grounding system Here.

100_2555.jpg

100_2556.jpg

Here is my heliax cable that is stripped for reference and shows how it is mounted in/on the ground block.

100_2557.jpg

A little closer shot of the hub.

100_2558.jpg

Here is a picture with the top on the hub.

100_2559.jpg

Those example heliax cables that are connected to the ICE suppressors will be coming from the antennas and will have to drill some holes in the bottom of the box when installing. Here is another picture.

100_2560.jpg

This picture below shows the ICE suppressors for my Omni,LP log and rotor that are all going to be mounted on the bulkhead. Right now, I am just trying to fit and configure everything before actually threading holes and permently mounting the equipment.

100_2561.jpg

This is the hole where the rod comes through the box and mounted directly on the ground rod.

100_2563.jpg

Here is a pic of the inside where the rod will come in.

100_2565.jpg

After figuring out where my protectors will go on my aluminum plate I marked all the mounting holes for me to drill and tap. You do not have to drill and tap, you can simplly use the bolt and nut method.

100_2602.jpg

Now it is time to mount the grounding lug using some anti-oxidant compound.

100_2605.jpg

Make sure you spread the anti-oxidant all over the grounding block. Use anti-oxidants in a liberal manner when making connections. 100_2607.jpg

This picture below is after tightening down the block, allowing excess compound to squirt outward from the joint when pressurized. This excess may be easily captured for reuse.

100_2608.jpg 100_2609.jpg

Before mounting my cable sheild block with the anti-oxidant, I wanted to mark and drill the holes for the coax cable and use rubber grommets to keep the weather out.

100_2611.jpg

Below I drilled the holes with a hole saw to add my grommets.

100_2618.jpg

Here are the grommets in place.

100_2620.jpg

I finally finished painting the tilt-over, so before I lifted it I install another coax shield block just below the mast where I will connect a ground cable from the block to the mast. I wish I took a better picture, sorry about the quality. This is the with the outer cable stripped.

100_2614.jpg

Here is the block installed around the cable and if you look closely you can see the anti-oxident coming out of the block and is totally filled, just wipe of the left over and put it back in your container for later use. After wiping the anti-oxident off I sealed it with RTV silicon so no water will enter that block.

100_2616.jpg



Places to purchase suppressors and accessories:

I.C.E

Polyphaser

Alphadelta

Some reviews:

Lightning & Surge Protection/Supression


More is to come to this article as I go and hope you will enjoy this project Tonsoffun Ron