Can a ground wire run down the trunk of a tree?

[jaco]

Hi,

I have a highly-directional UHF antenna (Antennas Direct 91XG) mounted on a 10' mast. The coaxial cable is already grounded but the mast is not. I would like to run a ground wire from the mast to the ground. There is a large spruce tree right next to the antenna so it would be very convenient to just run it down the trunk of the tree. Is this ok?

John

P.S. Another thing I thought of doing is mounting the antenna in the tree. I'd get an extra 10' in altitude.

 

[. Raine]

I'd mounted a antenna in a tall cedar tree in my back yard once [about forty feet high] and it worked fine, the only thing is a tree will sway quite a bit when it's windy, so your signal may go in and out a bit on weaker stations on windy days.

I didn't bother running a ground wire on that setup, but I'd imagine it'd be okay to run down the side of a tree with stand-offs, only as the tree grows in circumference, the wire might become embedded into the tree itself and you'd have to leave enough slack in the ground and coax to allow for the tree growing higher over time and to account for the tree swaying.

Climbing a spruce with an antenna in hand or trying to get a ladder up against it to put up an antenna is a PITA too!

 

[navychop]

Aren't Spruce kinda "flexible?" Like pines?

 

[jaco]

Aren't Spruce kinda "flexible?" Like pines?

Yes the tree is quite flexible. It is also quite mature so it won't be growing much more.