Grounding a satellite dish

Direct TV is coming out next Thursday to install a dish. I told them they could ground it properly or I would not subscribe. Here is an image I am going to send them tonight so the truck guy will know what to expect when he gets here.

Clear enough to follow?

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Reply to
metspitzer
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The wire in the attic is a bonding wire, not the ground line. A lightning strike should go to ground directly beneath the dish. That is why I bought the extra ground rod.

BTW I didn't mention in the original post that there has been one of each, Dish and Direct, already mounted in that spot. I originally bought a chimney bracket extra, and neither company has bonded it properly. It did have a very small ground rod there, but was never bonded to the house.

3rd time is a charm (I hope)
Reply to
metspitzer

i would run the bonding wire outside. no advantage to running a possibly energized linew inside your home.

get your chimney inspected yearly, by climbing up and looking down on the chimney cap.

your far better off having it low. is high up a security issue or the idea antennas always go on chimneys? a left over from days when everyone had a antenna on their home. chimney was highest spot, old antennas were thin spindly metal with near zero wind resistance

Reply to
hallerb

You really need to let an expert handle this:

  • The purpose of grounding a satellite TV dish is to dissipate static electricity generated by the dish being exposed to the wind. The shorter the run, the better the static drain-off will be. Excessive static electricity will interfere with reception. If you're mistakenly thinking there's some sort lightning protection via the ground, you're wrong. All lightning arrestors have a pointy end in order to work. There's nothing pointed about a satellite dish.

Ninety feet is ten times too much.

  • The best place to mount a satellite dish is on a pole stuck in a pot of concrete or attached to a deck railing. The higher you mount the dish, the worse off you'll be. (Because you can't easily adjust the dish or remove the snow.)
Reply to
HeyBub

" snipped-for-privacy@aol.com" wrote in news:34175f2d-23f9-49fd- snipped-for-privacy@h20g2000yqn.googlegroups.com:

So uhhhhhh... Hallerb. What haven't you done? :-)

Reply to
Red Green

I was a dish dealer for awhile and even attended as a VIP the launch of echostar 6. satellite tv has been a interest for over 12 years although i am not nearly into it as i once was.

I run my own office machine service business since 1984 when my former employeer went belly up. I have a wide variety of interests and the older you get the more info you pick up along the way

Reply to
hallerb

I remember having to drag the hose out of the cellar and blowing the snow off the dish with water so I could receive a signal. That wet sticky snow is a pain in the ass. I do not like climbing on a 2nd story roof full of snow. They had bolted it to the roof, I questioned about a leaky roof with lag screws into the shingles. I had 3 chimneys. It didn't leak though. He put rubbers between the mounting brackets and roof. I don't remember any grounds.

Reply to
Claude Hopper

What would be your estimate of how many satellite dishes are installed according to the NEC?

Reply to
metspitzer

Well below 50%. Your diagram has some problems as snipped-for-privacy@aol.com has noted. Coax entering a building must connect short to building ground 'before' entering the building - a less than 10 foot connection. Split bolt connection is best made as close to the earthing electrode as practical. A ground wire across an attic accomplishes little for all that work and cost.

Antenna must be earthed. Cable must be earthed where it enter the building. Code goes even farther - demands that dish earth ground connect to AC mains ground. In your case, best done with a buried bare copper wire (per code) routed underground. That buried wire enhances both earth grounds as well as meets code. Even many better installations don't bother.

However, at minimum, an entering coax uses a ground block to connect short to AC electric earth ground - routed so that the grounding wires remain separated from all other wires.

This earth requirement is one reason why dishes are often located nearby the AC electric meter. Of course, the disk must have a widely clear view of the satellite - ie trees can grow and still not obstruct the view ten years later.

Reply to
westom1

My point is the OP wanted to do it right, while his diagram is wrong.

as far as I know few dishes are grounded directly themselves, installers use the grounding block at home entrance, it appears to work fine.

grounding the dish might make it more attractive to lightning.'

plus low to the ground if you have line of site is far better than on roof

Reply to
hallerb

Something to think about: if you ground the sheath of the cable AND the dish to a common ground, you may find that you have "ground loop" noise in the sound and picture of your TV and/or receiver. While the dish should be grounded independently, you may have to isolate the grounding of the cable sheath so that it is only grounded at the TV and/or receiver. I tend to use a cable with an additional ground/carrier wire molded together.

Reply to
EXT

As several people have said, the NEC *requires* the dish cable sheath to be grounded at building entry to the same earthing electrode system as used by the power system (and cable and telephone).

While there is a maximum length for the interconnecting ground wire for cable and telephone, there isn?t for dish. A likely reason is there is significant chance of surges produced by lightning coming in on cable and phone wires. A short wire is critical to minimizing the voltage between power and phone or cable wires. But if lightning hits your dish you are (to use the technical phrase) in deep doo doo. A short wire is, however, a good idea.

-------------------------- Cable systems have the cable entry earthed at each building. There has to be significant difference in potential between some buildings which should result in ground currents and ground loops in the shields. Why isn?t that a problem for cable? (My guess is a high pass filter.)

Reply to
bud--

ALL GROUNDS MUST BE UNIFIED THAT IS CONNECTED TOGETHER FOR SAFETY. As long as they are unified, no ground loops can occur

Reply to
hallerb

Grounding a dish is required by NEC. It does not attract lightning. Lightning seeks a connection into earth. If the majority of lightning current conducts on that required ground, then less threatens dish electronics or the receiver. Grounding a dish is part of a system required so that direct lightning strikes cause no damage.

Having direct strikes to antenna systems without damage is routine. How the 'system' is earthed determines whether damage will occur.

Meanwhile, that cable must also be grounded to AC electric earth ground also for another reason - human safety.

Reply to
westom1

Bonded is the better word, but thanks.

Reply to
metspitzer

if lightning hits a dish that dish will be history.

lightning does strike antennas, and wiped channel 4 WTAE ofdf the air one time for over a day

Reply to
hallerb

ALL GROUNDS MUST BE UNIFIED THAT IS CONNECTED TOGETHER FOR SAFETY. As long as they are unified, no ground loops can occur

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ However, as far as electronics are concerned ground loops can form wherever grounds are connected in two or more locations instead of a tree or starburst arrangements. They can even form on a circuit board if a ground plane is interconnected. If the sheath of the cable is grounded and the electronic equipment is also grounded a loop can form and introduce audio or video noise. In this case a cable isolation device must be used to eliminate such loops.

Reply to
EXT

--=EF=BF=BD---------

Satellite receivers must be designed to accept such a situation, normally they use grounded plugs and a grounding block mis mandatory.

satellite receivers nornmally are not bothered by interference

Reply to
hallerb

Those are the popular myths. Some see a rare exception, then assume that exception is the rule. Instead, we learn from experience and consult experts. For example, well over 95% of all lightning struck trees have no appreciable indication. Lightning is not the massive destroyer often promoted in myths. Properly earthing a dish mean no damage - just like earthing a lightning rod. Routine is to have antennas struck by lightning without damage. Antennas atop the Empire State Building suffer about 25 direct strike per year without all that damage.

Well, some station engineers out of ignorance compromise the earthing system. How routine is lightning with no damage?

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Well I assert, from personal and broadcast experience spanning 30 years,

Low impedance is why a connection from coax ground block to building earth ground at the service entrance must be short - ie less than 10 feet. So that energy from a lightning strike to the dish does not cause building damage, that dish is earthed just like Ben Franklin did in 1752 to eliminate church steeple damage. Routine is to have direct lightning strikes with no appreciable damage.

Reply to
westom1

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