Did any of you have a Field Day station this year?

[Electronic M]

Jeff: This may be a dumb idea, but have you tried grounding your rig through the ground pin of a three prong wall outlet in your apartment?
From what I understand the ground leads of a buildings electrical system should all connect to a ground rod.

[N2IXK]

The ground pin on an outlet is fine for an electrical safety ground, but useless for an RF ground. Way too long a grounding path, with too much series inductance to work properly. Using it that way will actually help couple RF into your powerlines, causing all manner of RFI problems.

A good RF ground needs to be short and direct, preferably using a low inductance conductor, such as flat copper strip.

Once a proper RF grounding system is installed, it still needs to be tied back to the building electrical service ground to keep everything at the same potential.

[Jeffhs]

I realize my comments are off-topic for this thread, but I wish to answer the two VK members who responded to my original post.


Electronic M and N2IXK: I thought about using the third prong of the AC cord on my station's outlet strip (ground) to ground my IC725, but forgot about it when I considered (as N2IXK mentioned) that such a connection would or could cause RFI difficulties.

Oh well. My IC725 will stay in storage indefinitely, I guess, with my hamming done either over Echolink or 2 meters. Not the best solution, I realize, but since I live in an apartment building I have no other alternatives. Mobile operation is out since I do not drive, and the nearest amateur in my immediate neighborhood refuses to have anything to do with me (long story), so guest operating is out as well. This hobby means too much to me, after 40 years, to even consider giving it up, so even if I am forced to do my hamming via EL and 2m repeaters....well, it's better than nothing.

73,