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Re: Grounding. Oh joy.



> 
> Original Poster: "Yuri Markov" <wmondale-at-hotmail-dot-com> 
> 
> 1. I have heard that it can be a good idea to epoxy a flat piece of
copper 
> to the base of a secondary to serve as a ground terminal. Would a piece
of 
> aluminum tape work also?

Sure... conductors are conductors.. Al isn't as good as copper, but I
suspect that the losses from this would be negligible.

> 
> 2. I have heard that I can use something vaguely like chicken wire called
RF 
> Grounding Strap to ground the secondary. Where do I get this? THe local 
> hardware store? Home Depot? Or the ends of the Earth?

Probably not chicken wire (which is what I use as a ground plane), but more
like copper flashing. A thin sheet of copper in various widths (typically 4
inches to 12 inches). It is used in roofing for "valleys" and around
protrusions through the roof to prevent leaks.  Why copper?  For some uses,
it looks cool (tarnishes green, etc. looks old, which is a selling point
here in So Cal, where old is 50 years). More to the point, it is soft and
malleable, so it can conform to odd shapes, and it is solderable for
sealing.

> 
> 3. I have heard that I should not ground the secondary to a water pipe.
Why? 
> I'd like to know, because I don't feel like diging a six-foot-hole when 
> there is an iron well in the backyard that goes a whole lot deeper than
six 
> feet.

By all means ground to your well... can't get much better than an iron pipe
(full of water, no less) running down to the water table.  (Unless your
well was cased with copper or silver).

> 
> 4. I have heard of coils "failing" when they are not properly grounded.
Is 
> this failing as in "not doing anything," or as in "blowing up beyond all 
> hope of repair and forcing me to wind another three pounds of magnet wire
on 
> another ten dollar PVC pipe?"

Mostly not working...

Blowing up beyond all repair is when you get frustrated because it isn't
making sparks and kick it over.