PIRATE RADIO SURVIVAL GUIDE
Note: this chapter is from the book "Pirate Radio Survival Guide" written by Radio Doomsday, and Captain Eddy of The Radio Airplane. If you like this book a like to support their efforts, you may send a donation of your choice to either Capt. Eddy at PO Box 452, Wellsville NY 14895.

Please note that some chapters refer to illistrations or drawings, these could this BBS version of the book. If you would like the illistrations or have other may inquire at the above adddress.

STATION GROUND

A happy station is a properly grounded one! Many people overlook the necessit ground system and their stations will suffer because of that. A good ground sys expensive or difficult to install.

The biggest benefit a good ground system is that of SAFETY! Should your trans a problem, UNGROUNDED, there is the possibility of LETHAL VOLTAGES being presen the chassis of the transmitter! This means that you could be electrocuted from your rig! NOT COOL! Now the same transmitter with the same problem, GROUNDED, w simply "Blow" the AC power fuse and prevent you from receiving any kind of shoc Better! This also brings me to another....

SAFETY TIP #2 - NEVER, NEVER, NEVER OPERATE YOUR TRANSMITTER
UN-FUSED or If it keeps blowing the fuse DO NOT STICK IN A BIGGER FUSE! THIS
IS A GOOD WAY TO GET HURT OR KILLED!

Another benefit to a proper ground system is that your transmitter will "Tune easily and quite possibly give you better "On Air" performance as far as covera for a transmitter will also help to reduce or eliminate any potential QRM probl should be enough to motivate you to ground your station.

"OK, I'm convinced! What do I need to do now?" That depends on a couple of th ground will perform best, RF-wise, if you can keep the length of wire connectin to the ground rod as short and as large as possible. So with this in mind, try location for planting your ground rod. "Can't I use the traditional Cold Water a ground?" . Unless your house is old, the probability of PVC or PLASTIC pipe b service your house is very high. This means that the cold water pipes running t house probably will not be a good ground. The only way to be sure is to plant y rod.

Ground Rods are commonly available through Electrical Supply Houses. Get one EIGHT feet in length, the longer the better. Your better ground rods will be co You can expect to pay in the neighborhood of $15 for a suitable rod. DO NOT USE RADIO SHACK 4 FOOT SPECIALS! They are a waste of time because they are not long enough!

Now that you have your ground rod, it's plantin' time! Get a ladder and a sle with much manual labor, drive that rod down until only 3 or 4 inches are remain



Connecting the ground rod to the transmitter can be done in several ways. The important items that should be observed. The first is to keep the length of the short as possible. Second, use as heavy gauge (Bigger) wire as you can. Last, m is one, continuous piece. I have used Romex wire for my ground. Romex is the th wire used for AC wiring in most homes. For best results use all three wires the stripped out for your ground system. The other alternative is to use the ground coax cable like RG-8. If you have old cable that is no longer suitable for feed make quite handy ground wire. Again, this can be stripped out but is a little m time consuming to do.

The connection of the wire to the ground rod can be done with a couple of aut clamps. Get small ones just big enough to accommodate the wire and rod. Make su the rod so it's nice and shiney before you make the connection. After you make paint the exposed rod and connection with Day Glo orange paint to help prevent no one trips over it or runs over it with the lawn mover!

Connecting the wire to the transmitter can be done either by connecting the w CHASSIS, and there is usually a screw terminal for this purpose or you can get Lug terminal to make the connection. Either way is fine.

Now that your transmitter is properly grounded, this point at where the groun can and should be used as a connection point to ground the rest of your station needed.

Now for those of you who want the ultimate ground system , here are some more Use multiple ground rods. Two rods will work better than one and four ground ro better that two. Multiple rods will perform best when placed farther apart than you use multiple rods, just remember to connect all rods to a single connecting helpful tip for those who live in areas where soil conductivity is a problem, b rod, take a post hole digger and dig a post hole down about three feet, drive y center of this hole and then fill the hole with water softener salt up to about of the hole. Fill the rest of the hole with dirt and then the rain will leach o and increase your ground rod's effectiveness. The downside of this approach is corrosive to copper and will destroy your ground rod sooner than normal.

Live on the Second or Third story of a apartment building and can't really in problem, while not as effective as a "True Ground" a "Counterpoise" can be used compensate for the lack of a ground rod. A counterpoise is nothing more than a least one wavelength long. It is then connected to a transmitters ground termin somewhat as a ground. To figure out the length of your counterpoise wire, see t Antennas. Another alternative is to use a artificial ground. MFJ manufactures o MFJ-931 and lists for $80 and could provide you with alternative ground.


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