Re: [TCML] My woeful RF ground experiments and lots of questions.

[jimlux <jimlux@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jeremy Scott wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> So I tried pounding a short section of copper pipe into the dirt outside of my garage. It didn't go so well, my 'soil' is mostly clay with lots of large rocks. There's just no way I'm going to get anything more than a foot into the ground without augering a huge hole first and the only places that would be acceptable to do that are far away from where I'd be running a coil. 
>
> In my garage, I have a cold water faucet. The copper pipe for this runs about 20 feet from the faucet before entering the concrete foundation of my house. About five feet or so from where the pipe goes into the foundation, the green ground wire to the fuse box (a few feet away) 
> is tied in.
>
> What am I risking if I connect the coil's RF ground to the faucet in
> the garage? I am guessing that the path of least resistance seems to be straight to the pipes in ground and presumably not through the ground 
> wire into the fuse box and connected appliances, although I could be wrong. 
>
> Most of my 'sensitive' electronics like the TV and computers are all on 
> surge protected battery operated UPS units -- I'm not so worried about frying electronics as I am the risk of electrocution.
>
> Could I put an RF choke on that ground wire? What about simply disconnecting the AC ground wire while the coil is running? Should 
> I bite the bullet and tear up the yard and make a nice ground?
>
> Are there any easier ways of making an RF ground that don't involve
> pounding rods into solid clay?


Lots of ways...

How big is your coil? NST or Pole Pig sized?

One of the best ways to make an RF ground is to build yourself a 
counterpoise... Make a carpet or mat of chicken wire (aviary netting) 
that has a radius about equal to the height of your topload above the 
ground (e.g. if your topload is 3 ft off the ground, make it 6 feet in 
diameter).

Not only does this provide a nice short path for RF to get back to the 
base of your coil, but it also forms a big capacitor to "real" earth, so 
that any RF current flowing outside can also flow back to the secondary.

Hook the counterpoise to your electrical safety ground (usually at the 
coil, e.g. if you have  NST, and you ground the case of the NST, ground 
to the same place.

I wouldn't hook the coil to your water pipes.

I wouldn't trust the surge protector/UPS to protect against the RF 
signals from the coil.  They're designed to take the occasional single 
transient, not repetitive pulses at 120 Hz, which is what the TC puts out.

Jim
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