[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]

Re: simple question



Leslie:
Good question.  Both are electrical grounds.  The difference is that an RF
ground is usualy bigger (or should be) Perhaps an example will help:
The a.c. power line comming into an AM broadcast radio station might be
grounded to a simple copper clad stake driven into the dirt or it might be a
connectgion to a cold water pipe. A typical RF ground for the tramsmitter
would be many #6 gage copper wires, buried in the ground, and radiating out
from the transmitter for several hundred feet.  A good RF gr ound is one
that makes good contact to the earth.  One way to get that is to use lots of
conductors and if you are lucky, bury them in earth that has a very low
resistance....like a wet salt flat.  That  would be about optimum. An other
way of saying the same thing is that the resistance between the ground
terminal and the earth is low.  It is better practice to have a seperate
ground for a TC and not use the same gournd as is used by your power line.
However, that is not always possible.  Several coilers live in the upper
floors of apartment houses and get results.  The Tesla List archives have a
lot of references to ground systems.

Hope that answers your question.
Ray
>
>This is such a simple question I'm embarrassed to ask, but everyone has
been 
>so helpful. What is the difference between RF ground, and an electrical 
>ground?   
>Thank you,
>Leslie
>
>