Grounding an antenna in an office.

[auskip07]

Hey guys i wanted to check the send receive while working in my office and im having a hard time finding a ground. For temporary use would it work if i grounded to an outlet? Guessing a dummy load would be ideal.

[MDYoungblood]

Never use a electric receptacle as the ground for your radio (unless the 110v power cord has a ground on it), it probably would pick up all the electrical noises in and around your office. For the testing you are trying to do you don't need an earth ground. If you have an antenna going to the outside of the building, having a lightning arrestor installed (outside with a wire to a ground rod) would be sufficient.

[auskip07]

Good to know before i tried. The power supply does have a ground. I do have high swr with the antenna not grounded and got an antenna warning light. I have a dummy load on the way but wanted to know if there was an easier way to test it out. Its a 2nd story office with no real way to run a cable to the ground. The antenna was just rigged to see i could get a signal.

[MDYoungblood]

Yes a power supply normally has a grounded cord because of the capacitors inside, smaller ones don't. It's not a ground the antenna is missing but it's other half, some (myself included) call it the counterpoise. RF is looking for a nice flat horizontal surface to reflect from. A good dummy load is best fro testing.

3's

Greg