Is it necessary to ground a satellite dish at a tailgate?

[Castman63]

I am going to set up an 18 inch round Direct TV Dual LNB satellite dish at my tailgate. Do I need to ground the dish?

I understand that grounding serves the purpose of protecting not only the equipment, but also people in close proximity. If there is no troublesome weather will the dish be OK and safe?

Thank you for your help.

David

 

[jdspencer]

I wouldn't bother to ground in this situation. You're going to be outside, so if a storm is heading your way, you're going to disconnect everything anyway.

 

[donbrew]

I wouldn't bother to ground in this situation. You're going to be outside, so if a storm is heading your way, you're going to disconnect everything anyway.

He said tailgating, do you expect a tailgater to give up just because of lightening?
In the past I have found that grounding the coax did seem to get rid of transient static in my home based systems, but that is just anecdotal NO science attached.
And how would you ground the system in a parking lot anyway? The electrical system would not even be "grounded" if you are using an inverter, just completing a circuit to DC. You would have to drive a copper rod into the earth 6 feet or so then attach a wire to the vehicle ......goes on forever.

 

[Castman63]

Donbrew,
I like your no quit attitude when it comes to tailgating. You need to make a trip to Tallahassee and tailgate with us!

Thanks for your help guys. This site rocks.

David

 

[raoul5788]

I am going to set up an 18 inch round Direct TV Dual LNB satellite dish at my tailgate. Do I need to ground the dish?

I understand that grounding serves the purpose of protecting not only the equipment, but also people in close proximity. If there is no troublesome weather will the dish be OK and safe?

Thank you for your help.

David

Yes you will be fine without a ground if you are tailgating. The purpose of a ground is to discharge static buildup, not protect from lightning. Not much can do that.