Question on grounding (at the rig) - longish.

[Mel Vance N7OKL]

I am no expert...but....

Every one keeps hounding on wide, flat copper strips and common ground point for every thing 
to improve station performance.....

While the common ground point idea is great for protecting from a near strike from lightning, I 
have seen absolutely no improvement in transmit or received signal strengths and still get lots 
of RFI issues on both TX and RX.

I will admit that I have very poor soil....extremely heavy clay that packs down harder than 
concrete.

When it comes to copper strap VS braided wire......

I had a very great increase in RFI on RX and no change on TX when I switched from 2 inch wide 
copper braid to 4 inch wide copper strap.

I switched back to the braid....

You can add all the ground rods you can afford into your ground system, tie every thing 
together, and it will not improve your signal at all if you have poor soil....

Now, if some one can give me a good way to improve the performance of my soil at RF, that I 
would love to hear.

BTW....all these requirements they are adding into the codes for lightning protection is 
massive over kill in some parts of the US......Since 1972, there have been maybe 20-30 mild 
lightning storms here, yet I had to spend almost $5000 to upgrade my electrical and station 
ground system when they changed to the new code standards....just because I am a ham. I 
swear that the city is trying to drive hams out of town....

Mel
N7OKL

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