Okay to not ground coax feed from dish?

[Van]

(1) yes you are correct on the wire and the clamp, you can have a hundred clamps on a single conduit or water line.

(2) Go to radioshack and get an antenna ground lug kit for a few bucks, cut the messenger wire so that it will reach the ground lug wich you will need to bolt to the foot plates ankle region through one of the holes or through the mast elevation slot, be sure to strip the wire and put it in the ground lug.

(3) You do not ground switches, switches are not approved by the NEC for grounding purposes, the switch(s) should be placed between the ground block and the receiver(s).

 

[jjmaster]

(1) yes you are correct on the wire and the clamp, you can have a hundred clamps on a single conduit or water line.

Do I actually need another clamp? Can I connect two wires to the same clamp on the pipe? (1 from sat grounding block and 1 from cable grounding block)

(2) Go to radioshack and get an antenna ground lug kit for a few bucks, cut the messenger wire so that it will reach the ground lug wich you will need to bolt to the foot plates ankle region through one of the holes or through the mast elevation slot, be sure to strip the wire and put it in the ground lug.

I have searched the radio shack web site and have not found any type of part like you described. Do you have a picture of the part or setup you described? If you can send me a link to the part from radio shack or home depot, that would be great.

(3) You do not ground switches, switches are not approved by the NEC for grounding purposes, the switch(s) should be placed between the ground block and the receiver(s).

What about when you have 2 or 3 dishes? Messenger wire bolted to the first dish only? Or you need to run an additional grounding wire from dish to dish?

The switch would be at the dish and connect the multiple dishs/lnb's together. Then 1 wire runs from the roof to the grounding block and then into the house.

 

[Van]

Do I actually need another clamp? Can I connect two wires to the same clamp on the pipe? (1 from sat grounding block and 1 from cable grounding block).

Nope, against NEC, and all other regulations that you can think of, each ground wire must have its own ground device.

I have searched the radio shack web site and have not found any type of part like you described. Do you have a picture of the part or setup you described? If you can send me a link to the part from radio shack or home depot, that would be great. .

It looks like a high back kitchen chair with a hole through the back support and the leg area is fully enclosed except for a hole that shoots up through the seat from below and another hole from the front that a screw sits in to tighten down on the ground wire. You can use a nut and bolt inplace of this to ground through the footplate ankle ground holes.

What about when you have 2 or 3 dishes? Messenger wire bolted to the first dish only? Or you need to run an additional grounding wire from dish to dish?.

Easy, daisy chain them together, this is why there are 4 holes in the ankle of the foot plate, link one to another to another ect ect ect, I do it all the time.

The switch would be at the dish and connect the multiple dishs/lnb's together. Then 1 wire runs from the roof to the grounding block and then into the house.

Thats an old way of installing that many veteran techs ( any tech thats been around for 3 years or more ) and any tech that may be in a huge time crunch or is just plain tired will do to save time, that and its ugly to run a bunch of wires down a house. Its not really a huge deal and is something that only E requires and not any agency that I know of, E just wants to minimize the damage that switches take from static discharge but after seeing enough lightning damaged systems grounding tends to not be very effective.

 

[CochiseGuy]

Just curious - does it make a difference if the dish is pole mounted? I had a Dish 500 installed last December. I told the installer I didn't want the dish mounted to the side of the house. It was a foreclosure and in fixing it up I removed 2 D* dishes from the side of the house & 1 from the facia board and had to plug up all those holes. The installed pointed to a 6' foot high 6" metal post anchored in cement in the ground a few feet from the house and said he could mount the dish on that. I was moving in that day so I left him alone. When he finished & was ready to have me sign off on everything I said "Wait, let me go look at the dish". I noticed the coax was a straight run down the pole, across the top of the ground, and then up the side of the house and then inside. I asked:
1- Aren't those things supposed to be grounded?
2- With the coax running on top of the ground, besides the likehood of me tripping over it, isn't the cable supposed to be protected against critters chewing through it?
He told me that with a pole mount, the pole acts as the ground. And he said there was no requirment to protect the coax cable, that if I was worried about it I could dig a trench & bury it.

I said OK; I was still busy settling in & didn't want to argue about it. About a month later I installed a 25' pole for OTA antenna reception for digital locals (after cringing at the E* display of SD locals on my 57" RP HDTV). I put in an 8' copper grounding rod to securely ground the antenna and decided while I was at it, I cut the dish coax, put it through a run of gray plastic electrical conduit where it ran on top of the ground, and then used a grounding block for the coax and ran a 10 gauge ground wire to the grounding rod, just to be on the safe side.

But, as I said at the begining - was the installer right that the pole acts as a ground & is adequate, or was he just feeding me a line?

 

[jjmaster]

Can't find antenna ground lug kit anywhere

I cannot find the antenna ground lug that was recommended. I have searched radio shack and home depot.

I have spent a couple of hours doing a google search to literally a hundred sites and can't find the part. Someone please help with a link to this part.

 

[webbydude]

Just curious - does it make a difference if the dish is pole mounted? I had a Dish 500 installed last December. I told the installer I didn't want the dish mounted to the side of the house. It was a foreclosure and in fixing it up I removed 2 D* dishes from the side of the house & 1 from the facia board and had to plug up all those holes. The installed pointed to a 6' foot high 6" metal post anchored in cement in the ground a few feet from the house and said he could mount the dish on that. I was moving in that day so I left him alone. When he finished & was ready to have me sign off on everything I said "Wait, let me go look at the dish". I noticed the coax was a straight run down the pole, across the top of the ground, and then up the side of the house and then inside. I asked:
1- Aren't those things supposed to be grounded?
2- With the coax running on top of the ground, besides the likehood of me tripping over it, isn't the cable supposed to be protected against critters chewing through it?
He told me that with a pole mount, the pole acts as the ground. And he said there was no requirment to protect the coax cable, that if I was worried about it I could dig a trench & bury it.

I said OK; I was still busy settling in & didn't want to argue about it. About a month later I installed a 25' pole for OTA antenna reception for digital locals (after cringing at the E* display of SD locals on my 57" RP HDTV). I put in an 8' copper grounding rod to securely ground the antenna and decided while I was at it, I cut the dish coax, put it through a run of gray plastic electrical conduit where it ran on top of the ground, and then used a grounding block for the coax and ran a 10 gauge ground wire to the grounding rod, just to be on the safe side.

But, as I said at the begining - was the installer right that the pole acts as a ground & is adequate, or was he just feeding me a line?

No!! Your installer was completely offbase here. A pole mount is not a suitable ground. This is why there is supposed to be a tracer attached to the coax. One end of the tracer is attached to the groundlug at the dish (I usually use self-tapping screws to attach the lugs) and the other end of the tracer is supposed to be feeding a groundblock.

As to the burial situation. That's a gray area. If it was a DNSC employee, they're liable for burial up to (I believe!) 50'. Beyond that, then it's up to the customer. I usually will measure the distance out and then charge the customer $1/foot after the 1st 50'. Making the gray area more muddied, it's generally a good idea to use a 90 degree plastic conduit elbow at both ends of the burial.

 

[Van]

Just curious - does it make a difference if the dish is pole mounted? I had a Dish 500 installed last December. I told the installer I didn't want the dish mounted to the side of the house. It was a foreclosure and in fixing it up I removed 2 D* dishes from the side of the house & 1 from the facia board and had to plug up all those holes. The installed pointed to a 6' foot high 6" metal post anchored in cement in the ground a few feet from the house and said he could mount the dish on that. I was moving in that day so I left him alone. When he finished & was ready to have me sign off on everything I said "Wait, let me go look at the dish". I noticed the coax was a straight run down the pole, across the top of the ground, and then up the side of the house and then inside. I asked:
1- Aren't those things supposed to be grounded?
2- With the coax running on top of the ground, besides the likehood of me tripping over it, isn't the cable supposed to be protected against critters chewing through it?
He told me that with a pole mount, the pole acts as the ground. And he said there was no requirment to protect the coax cable, that if I was worried about it I could dig a trench & bury it.

I said OK; I was still busy settling in & didn't want to argue about it. About a month later I installed a 25' pole for OTA antenna reception for digital locals (after cringing at the E* display of SD locals on my 57" RP HDTV). I put in an 8' copper grounding rod to securely ground the antenna and decided while I was at it, I cut the dish coax, put it through a run of gray plastic electrical conduit where it ran on top of the ground, and then used a grounding block for the coax and ran a 10 gauge ground wire to the grounding rod, just to be on the safe side.

But, as I said at the begining - was the installer right that the pole acts as a ground & is adequate, or was he just feeding me a line?

Yep another idiot installer strikes again, that way of thinking is what every single cband dish installer would use back in the day to not ground the systems properly as do most all ota installers. The dish must always be grounded per NEC, the code says that all external antenna's must be grounded to an approved ground source. The coax also must be grounded to an approved ground source as well, basicly this guy didnt want to spend the extra 10 - 15 mins to ground the system.

Coax burial is free on the first 50 ft after that its $1 per foot.

The ground rod you installed must be atached to your homes main ground source by way of a 6 gauge solid copper or copper braid wire.

 

[CochiseGuy]

The ground rod you installed must be atached to your homes main ground source by way of a 6 gauge solid copper or copper braid wire.

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I guess since I left him alone he figured I wasn't going to be picky & he could cut corners.

But I thought my 8' copper ground rod was better than my house's main ground. I didn't mention that it is a manufactored home. Where the electric service comes into the house I saw they ground to the metal I-beam frame, and then ground the frame to the incoming water source's metal pipe. But I know for a fact that metal pipe only goes a few feet into the ground before turning into a 2" PVC pipe that goes to the well. So, I figured my 8" copper ground rod was better than the house's ground. Also, where the underground electric lines come up to the meter a few feet from the house, I see they ground to a copper grounding rod, hopefully 8'.

So, again, I figured grounding my antenna & the Dish 500 to my own grounding rod was the best solution.

 

[OkieTech]

I don't know if it's common practice but the retailer installers in my area don't have to ground. Since I am a tech with a Company who gets our jobs from dish instead of a mom and pop retail outfit, we have to ground everything that can be grounded.

 

[Van]

I don't know if it's common practice but the retailer installers in my area don't have to ground. .

Thats not common practice and there are no exclusions to not grounding that are provided by the NEC, but I have heard in the past of dish and direct both looking the other way for some subs when it came to grounding, theres more that I can say but wont just yet.

 

[Van]

Yep another idiot installer strikes again, that way of thinking is what every single cband dish installer would use back in the day to not ground the systems properly as do most all ota installers. The dish must always be grounded per NEC, the code says that all external antenna's must be grounded to an approved ground source. The coax also must be grounded to an approved ground source as well, basicly this guy didnt want to spend the extra 10 - 15 mins to ground the system.

Coax burial is free on the first 50 ft after that its $1 per foot.

The ground rod you installed must be atached to your homes main ground source by way of a 6 gauge solid copper or copper braid wire.

Call your local township or city buildings code office and find out if how your home is grounded is up to code wich to me its not, I did a mover on a home that was just recently moved to a new site and the home had 2 ground rods installed.

 

[yooper.mi]

Been running two receivers off a dish 500 twin lnb for about 5 yrs no ground NO problems.

 

[SummitAdvantageRetailer]

Been running two receivers off a dish 500 twin lnb for about 5 yrs no ground NO problems.

Go get yourself a dual-cable ground block and some ground wire on a free day and insure your home, buddy. You're INVITING yourself for trouble to not just you but anyone that may come over your house.

 

[jjmaster]

Still can't find appropriate lug

I still cannot locate the appropriate screw/lug to attach the messenger wire to the dish. Can someone please help?

 

[Van]

Been running two receivers off a dish 500 twin lnb for about 5 yrs no ground NO problems.

Yea, so were several of the people last year who I had to replace most all of their systems after an indirect lightning hit.

 

[Van]

I still cannot locate the appropriate screw/lug to attach the messenger wire to the dish. Can someone please help?

Ahhhhh the power of google.

 

[Frank Jr.]

I still cannot locate the appropriate screw/lug to attach the messenger wire to the dish. Can someone please help?

http://www.nextlevelsat.com/SearchResults.asp Just one of many

 

[jjmaster]

Just to beat this point to death and make sure it is correct:

The split bolt is the item I was looking for??!!

You screw this split bolt to your dish?
Where EXACTLY? Drill a hole? There is an existing hole?

Attach the messenger wire to this split bolt which is screwed to the dish?

If you have multiple dishes, daisy chain them together from dish to dish with a split bolt attached to each dish?

Use which wire for the daisy chaining between dishes? #10 grounding wire or pick up additional wire that is the same gauge as messenger wire? What gauge is the messenger wire?

It seems strange to go beween dishes with thicker # 10 then drop down to the thinner mesenger cable between the last dish and the grounding block?

Someone please give me a straight up answer. I am tired of googling for this info.

 

[Van]

Ok this is a split bolt, it goes to the house ground wire that connects to your electric service meter.

This is the ground lug that ataches to the upper ankle bolt holes on the foot plate of the mast.

10 gauge ground wire is fine to link the dishes together or you can use the same 16 gauge ground wire that is on the messenger coax.

Atached are two pics, the first one shows the location of the holes to atach the ground lugs to on the foot plates, you will need two ground lugs on all but one foot plate to properly ground the dishes together.

The second pic is an alternate and approved ground location to be used on pole mounted dishes, in both instances paint must be scraped away from the area's that the nut/bolt/ground lug make contact with the assembly.

 

[jjmaster]

Ok this is a split bolt, it goes to the house ground wire that connects to your electric service meter.

This is the ground lug that ataches to the upper ankle bolt holes on the foot plate of the mast.

10 gauge ground wire is fine to link the dishes together or you can use the same 16 gauge ground wire that is on the messenger coax.

Atached are two pics, the first one shows the location of the holes to atach the ground lugs to on the foot plates, you will need two ground lugs on all but one foot plate to properly ground the dishes together.

The second pic is an alternate and approved ground location to be used on pole mounted dishes, in both instances paint must be scraped away from the area's that the nut/bolt/ground lug make contact with the assembly.

Van,

Thanks so much for the links and clarification.
One more question regarding the aluminum ground lug pictured. It does not appear to come with a bolt or screw and nut to attach to the upper ankle bolt holes. Am I wrong or do you need to supply your own? If I need to supply my own, what do I need?

Sorry if this questions seems so basic, but when you go to home depot and see a hundred types and sizes of screws/nuts/bolts you really don't know what to get. Does the metal type make a difference for rusting/grounding? A specific recommendation is appreciated. (Example: 1/2 inch #5 galvanized bolt and nut)

Thanks!