Earthing the aerial pole?

[HeadBanger]

Hi,

I've just done a quick search on this and it appears that aerials (and dishes) should be earthed to protect against lightening strikes.

Is this done by simply clampling some 6mm earth cable to the mast pole and running this into a a dedicated earth stake?

Any help appreciated - thanks.

[SamRadford]

I don't think you need worry about them getting lighter. Or did you mean "lightning"?

Nothing is going to protect against a direct strike, although a copper strip 2" wide by 1/4" thick might redirect part of the current to ground. But installing that isn't a DIY job.

[leon]

ive added an earth to my house a 6mm and a 1mtr copper rod in the ground it would not hurt to do the same to the dish ..if you read the russ andrew book he has added 12 to his house

[Inactive]

I read somewhere that this is a legal requirement in Germany.

[Chris Muriel]

It's also a legal requirement in the USA.

Chris Muriel, Boston, USA (normally Manchester)

[HeadBanger]

Thanks for the replies guys.

So is it worthwhile doing a DIY earth by clamping 6mm earth cable to the pole and earth stake or is the copper strip the only effective earth?

If normal earth cable is OK does it matter where on the pole you clamp the earth cable (I was going to clamp it right at the bottom where the brackets are).

And Leon, just out of curiosity, what are the other 10 earth points that Russ Andrews has installed (assuming 2nd is the sky dish)?!

Thanks again,

[leon]

Originally Posted by MATTS

Thanks for the replies guys.
And Leon, just out of curiosity, what are the other 10 earth points that Russ Andrews has installed (assuming 2nd is the sky dish)?!
Thanks again,

he has made a flower shape in the garden made of earth poles and fed them back to his mains earth in the house via the fuse box ...i guess you must be well into hifi for that .
i fed my new earth back into a mk wall socket with an green earth plug comming out the wall and then run my cinema eq from that (earth).you would not believe it but it did help the clicking and hissing in my system and also my house lights dont flicker anymore .. the toal cost was £26.00 with 10mtr of cable and spike and brackets ... it well worth doing i would run it from your dish to the moist ground .if it cant be in moist ground water the top of the pole or the earth its in every month or so sounds abit mad but my sparkey said it worth adding another earth you can never be too safe ....

http://www.russandrews.com/lookup/1/...structions.htm

[ianh64]

If going to the extent of earthing your mains to reduce RF noise, you might as well go to the effort and get a clean earth system professionally installed (it may be illegal to do it yourself) using the appropriate clean earth sockets.

[HeadBanger]

Thanks for the posts guys.

I’ve got no noticeable RF noise and distribute the signal throughout the house using a Triax DDU (which itself is seperately earthed). My aerial is mounted on a 12 ft alloy pole and my concern is purely that this may attract a lightning strike. Should a strike occur I wanted to divert it (as best as poss)away from the electronics (& people!) in the house.