Is your Dish grounded?

[vinnyv07]

I have three dishes on my roof and one OTA ant and nothing is grounded. I guess I like a little suspense in life....or a little stupidity , whichever one. I do agree they should be grounded..and that the OTA Ant which is around 12 ft higher than the dish is more likely to get hit.

 

[vurbano]

PSB,

I contacted my electrical inspector here and looked in the code book and have figured out why the installers get away with no ground wires in this state, the bad installers that is. I recently started this poll on it too and my guess is that many states work the same way and that is why we have so many people without ground wires. PSB was correct, the NEC code does require ground wires on antenna masts, I think its chapter 810-21 (in my outdated 1990 code book) lol. The problem here is, according to the inspector, that this state doesnt regulate low voltage electrical systems under 50 volts, so the city inspectors dont inspect it or issue fines for violations of NEC code for these systems. And without that threat of an installer getting busted by a local inspector, I am not sure how you get them to correct it. In short, customers here may have to do it themselves.

I wish these results were broken down by state, we might see some real patterns to the problem.

 

[PSB]

Thanks Vurbano, sorry for getting a bit hot under the collar, I deleted most of that post. I guess I was just spewing what I was "programmed" to say, what makes me mad is the customers who are getting hoodwinked, for something that they have paid for (free install or not) I used to work for the local D* HSP and 99% of service calls I went to were not to code, that was not the reason for the service calls in most of these cases but they would not let me leave until they were upgraded to code!

 

[vurbano]

Thanks Vurbano, sorry for getting a bit hot under the collar, I deleted most of that post. I guess I was just spewing what I was "programmed" to say, what makes me mad is the customers who are getting hoodwinked, for something that they have paid for (free install or not) I used to work for the local D* HSP and 99% of service calls I went to were not to code, that was not the reason for the service calls in most of these cases but they would not let me leave until they were upgraded to code!

Its cool PSB

Since it is code the 40% number without grounding systems is disturbing and voom/installs inc should be notified of this poll. But in an installers mind, he may be thinking that since their is no permit, inspection or local/state regulation then he can do it however he pleases. The issue becomes like a speed limit sign in a county without a police dept or a judge. LOL. IMO The simplest thing is for single story owners to go to Radio shack and get the materials and do it themselves. The two/three story owners need to call!!!

 

[PSB]

Since it is still unlawful, they should maybe "ask" the installation company to return and fix it, maybe a mention of this forum will help, and just because there is no inspector to check it, if the customer is educated in the grounding of satellite dish then THEY can report it to the state, and at that point they may get involved (its amazing what a simple phone call from the state board of electricity will do). Just today I read a post that an I.Inc. inspector showed up at someones home, thats what we need more of, I would LOVE to do that job : )

 

[jbcaro]

Grounding Question

What all needs to be grounded? I have seen install diagrams in these forums that show a ground wire from the dish to a ground block and then to the receiver. Is this necessary to run a ground from the reciever?

Also, I have not seen any install diagrams showing a ground wire from the OTA antenna to a gound block. Is this necessary?

Thanks,
John

 

[PSB]

Heres a great link to some top notch grounding info.....

http://dbsinstall.com/Whatis/Whatisgood-5.htm

 

[vurbano]

Scott , you should send the results of this poll to Voom and installs Inc. I would guess the same result would be had for directv and installs inc as well. And what is the common thread between the two?

INSTALLS INC!!

 

[jbcaro]

Great info but...

The link has some great info on general grounding but neither of my questions were answered there.

john

 

[satelliteinstaller]

I ground everything I install. because it is code here.But do you really think a little piece of copper #8 wire.Is going to stop the power of a lighting bolt.

 

[bryan27]

Not grounded, don't care. Not in city, so no city code, no silly permits, no zoning. Build what you want, when you want, how you want. Life is grand in this state

 

[satelliteinstaller]

What all needs to be grounded? I have seen install diagrams in these forums that show a ground wire from the dish to a ground block and then to the receiver. Is this necessary to run a ground from the reciever?

Also, I have not seen any install diagrams showing a ground wire from the OTA antenna to a gound block. Is this necessary?

Thanks,
John

no you do not want to run a ground line from the receiver to the ground block.The idea of a ground is to stop the elec. at the ground block.you run a coax line with ground from the dish to the ground block.then you run your #10 copper wire from your ground spot to your ground block.

 

[Scotty]

My ground wire is coming out of a screw in one of the corners of the multiswitch (diplexer?) that the dish and antenna is hooked to. That wire is run to a ground wire that my cable system is connected to that is connected to my water pipe. It's and unsheiled bare copper write that looks pretty thick. I assume that is good?

 

[TheForce]

"Another plus, the better the ground is the better and more stable the signal will be!"

Technically, Peter, this cannot be proven. While it is true that an excellent earth ground is required for LF and HF (AM band to lower short wave), once you get beyond about 20 Mhz. earth grounding becomes less important as opposed to a reflector or ground plane element to the antenna system. Grounding is important for static charge drainage however and remains the chief reason for doing it. TV frequencies start at 54Mhz and the dbs frequencies are way up in the 12Ghz range. Horn loaded systems for DBS don't even rely on a ground plane but rather use a funnel approach to achieving gain and tuning. That in conjunction with the parabolic reflector to increase capture area and focus all made without the aid of an earth ground for signal stabiliy.